A Star Among Darkness
by Tima Yami's wife
Summary: -sister fanfiction of "River"- When you live your life in darkness, a single light can be your salvation. Such is the journey of recovery that Seto Kaiba must face with the sister of his greatest rival, a girl who sees that there is more to the CEO of KaibaCorp than meets the public eye...
1. Ripples of the Heart

Chapter 1

Ripples of the Heart

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers. Here is the sister fanfiction of **_**River**_**; both stories will be written in chronological order according to the series. To all those who are just reading this fanfiction or are reading **_**River**_** at the same time, I hope you enjoy it.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

_Years and centuries pass and faces and souls get recycled and get scattered all over the world. But destiny has a way of making things work, using people, events, and feelings to influence the tide of fate. As Seth predicted centuries earlier, the journey of the Sennen Items was not done yet and it started again when a man from Japan came to Egypt in search of the ultimate game. With the beginning piece in play, the heavens decided that it was time to set the paths before certain humans, one part of the heavens focusing on making sure an old promise would continue in the present day…_

It was a day like any other to the average person on the street. But, for the occupants of a black car, the day was far from normal. The car drove down the streets for a few minutes before stopping at a building that looked like a church. With the building held together by bricks and the old-fashioned design, it was a building that looked like it offered sanctuary to whomever needed it; the feeling of sanctuary was made innocent by the front lawn that had playground equipment, sandboxes, and trees with swing sets. The driver's door opened first and an older woman with short brown hair wearing a tan pant suit got out. Looking up at the orphanage, she smiled softly and nodded before going to the back door and opening it. "Come on, little ones. We're here."

She tried to make herself sound more cheerful than she actually was, which was a little difficult considering the children she was dropping off recently lost their parents in a car crash. As the social worker continued to smile, two girls stepped out of the car. The first had long reddish-brown hair and green eyes that reflected a bright mind. Dressed in a nice shirt with a musical note on it and nice pants, the seven-year-old looked up the building as another little girl stepped out of the car. Younger than the first girl, she was dressed in a blue dress and white stockings with black Mary-Janes. Playing with her long brown hair, she looked at the building with her scared blue eyes. Hiding behind her older sister, she whimpered, "R-Rose…?"

Rose looked at the smaller girl and took her hand. "Don't worry, Tiki…I'm here."

Tiki smiled and hugged her older sister. The social worker smiled and looked down at the children. "Ready, little ones?"

Tiki looked up at the social worker and whimpered a little. Even though she was too young to understand her parents' death, she knew that things were never going to be the same for her and her sister. Hearing the whimper, Rose hugged her sister close. "It's all right, Tiki…we'll always be together. I promise: no matter what, I will never leave you."

Tiki looked up at her older sister and smiled, feeling better. She then looked up at the sky. "Mommy and Daddy…watching us?"

The social worker did not answer since she was not a believer but Rose smiled and nodded, looking up as well. "Yes…"

Tiki giggled and waved up at the sky as if to say hello to her parents. After a moment, the social worker took them inside.

* * *

A month later, Rose and Tiki were sitting in a corner, coloring in coloring books. Having finished hers, the youngest girl showed her older sister. "See, Rose? Pwetty pwincess!"

Rose smiled and nodded. She then looked up, taking a break. She saw the other children were looking at her; she knew they thought she was a little odd. Over the last month, she had many offers from potential parents who wanted to adopt her. But Rose always refused them as she had a little sister she refused to abandon. Deep down, she did want a family again but she did not want to leave Tiki behind: she made a promise to her sister and she was going to keep it. As she went back to coloring, she soon heard a new voice say, "Hi!"

The two girls looked up and saw a boy, about the same age as Tiki with gentle brown eyes and shoulder-length white hair. Tiki could not help but stare as she had never seen someone as young as he with white hair; Rose smiled, assuming he was a new child in the orphanage. "Hi."

The boy smiled and asked, "Me play?"

Thinking nothing was odd about a boy wanting to color, Tiki reached over and grabbed another coloring book, giving it to him. Taking it, the boy sat down and started to color with them. After a few minutes, he looked up and smiled at Rose. "You pwetty."

Rose giggled. "Thank you."

Tiki giggled as well. "You pwetty too! You girl?"

Since she was so young, Tiki did not understand that sometimes boys were not always masculine looking. Rose, however, knew that and gave her little sister a look. "Tiki! That's not nice!"

Tiki blinked a little. "But…he too pwetty for boy."

Rose sighed a little and shook her head. "Tiki, it is not nice to point out that someone is different. We're all God's children and He loves and accepts all of us. Don't you think we should do the same?"

The little brunette nodded and went back to coloring. The boy looked at Rose and smiled. "Thanky…"

Rose smiled and went back to her coloring. Because she was so focused on her play, she did not notice that they were being approached by someone until the boy chirped, "Mommy!"

The sisters looked up and saw a middle-aged woman with brown hair wearing a modest blue dress crouching in front of them. The boy stood up and hugged her, making the woman smile. "Hi, sweetie. You having fun?" Off his excited nod, the woman asked, "Ryou, do you want to introduce us?"

The boy Ryou was about to answer when he realized that he only knew the young one's name. Seeing him pause, Rose giggled and looked up at the woman; while she was prepared to turn down the woman, she wanted to be polite. "I'm Rose. She's my little sister, Tiki."

Tiki looked up at the woman and smiled with her blue, curious eyes. "Hi!"

Hearing that the two were related, the woman started to feel guilty. She and her husband, the blue-haired man talking to the head nun, had seen their son interact with the girls. After Ryou's sister died, the boy did not respond to most children and, when Rose stood up for him when Tiki made her innocent statement, they saw how Ryou smiled. They made the decision to adopt the red-haired girl but they could only support two children. Her heart was set on Rose and the revelation that Rose had a little sister made things a little more difficult. Seeing her hesitate, the head nun went over and touched the woman's shoulder. "Mrs. Bakura, would you like some help?"

Mrs. Bakura looked up and smiled softly. "Thank you, Reverend Mother. That would be really appreciated."

The Reverend Mother nodded and looked at the sisters. "Rose, honey…I need to listen carefully. You too, Tiki." Seeing that she had the sisters' attention, the head nun told Rose, "Rose…Mrs. Bakura has told me that she wants to adopt you." Rose and Tiki lit up at the news. But Rose's spirits dampened when the Reverend Mother explained, "Unfortunately, my child…she can only afford you and Ryou, not your sister."

Tiki looked at her older sister as the red-haired girl immediately shook her head. "No…no! My sister needs me!"

Mrs. Bakura sighed, upset that she and her husband could not afford to take Rose's sister too. Ryou was upset as well but more so over the fact that he might not get a sister since he liked Rose. But the little brunette surprised everyone by saying, "Go, sissy."

Rose looked down at her little sister in shock. "Tiki…but…"

Tiki smiled. While she remembered the promise Rose made that they would always be together, the younger girl saw the happy look in Rose's eyes at the possibility of being adopted by the Bakuras. Wanting her sister to be happy, Tiki said happily, "It okay, sissy. She like you and Ryou nice."

The Reverend Mother felt her heart soar with Tiki's selflessness. Rose, however, was not that willing to abandon her sister so quickly. "But our promise…"

Tiki thought for a moment. She did not want Rose to break the promise since that was wrong in the little girl's mind. Remembering what the nuns said about God's teachings of self-sacrifice, the brunette got an idea and said, "Make new pwomise!"

Rose stared at Tiki in surprise. Her little sister was willing to let her go, to be adopted by a new family, and they would in turn make a new promise to share between them. Mrs. Bakura was also touched by the little one's willingness to let her sister go. Tears forming in her eyes, Rose pulled her sister into a tight hug. "I'll…I'll write you a song! Your song! That way, we can find each other one day!"

Tiki giggled with delight and hugged Rose back. "Yay! My song!"

Pulling back, Rose wiped her eyes and looked at Mrs. Bakura. "Okay…Mommy."

Ryou squealed with delight: he now had a big sister! His mother helped Rose to her feet and the Reverend Mother took the Bakuras and Rose to the office to fill out the adoption papers. Having watched what happened, another nun came over to Tiki and touched the child's head. "Tiki…that was a very selfless act you just did. God will repay you for your kind heart."

Tiki's eyes shone, making her look even cuter to the nun. "He will?"

The nun nodded. "Of course, my dear. He always does but you must have patience: He gives you your reward when He deems it to be right."

Tiki giggled and went back to coloring. She could not wait for her reward that God would give her. Just then, an alarm went off, an alarm that sounded suspicious like an alarm clock…

* * *

Moaning a little, Tiki opened her eyes and winced at the sunlight that came pouring into her room. She then rolled her eyes and reached over to shut off her alarm clock. Sitting up, she looked at her vanity mirror on her desk and grimaced at the girl who looked back. While the fourteen-year-old was beautiful and retained a childlike innocence, she was half-asleep with bed head. Sitting up, she stretched her arms out and thought about the dream she just had. She remembered the day she let her sister go with the Bakuras; even to this day, she knew that, if given the chance to do it over, she would not change a thing. After everything her sister did for her, it was what the little girl could do to repay her sister and it allowed Tiki to be adopted into the wonderful family she now had. As she smiled, she heard her adoptive mother knock on the door and say, "Breakfast is ready!"

Tiki smiled. "Okay, Mom."

As she left, the mother said, "Get your brother up if you can."

Tiki giggled, knowing that her brother was always difficult to get up in the morning. Putting on her robe, she left her room and made the short trek to her brother's room. She peeked in and giggled, seeing her brother still sleeping in his bed. Getting an idea, she tiptoed up to the bed and jumped onto her brother. "Wake up!"

Her brother was jolted awake by the wind getting knocked out of him. Glaring at Tiki, he sleepily said, "Why did you do that?"

Tiki grinned and sat on top of him. "Come on, Yugi. If Mom says you need to wake up, you need to wake up."

Rubbing his eyes, her brother Yugi glared at her. "You better not keep this up when we start high school tomorrow."

Tiki got off the bed to let Yugi get up. She then thought of something: "I'm going to the store later today for some last-minute school supplies. You need anything?"

Running his hands over his hair to make it spikier instead of bed-head looking, Yugi shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

As she turned to head to the kitchen, Tiki's foot stepped on something hard, making her yelp. Yugi looked at what she stepped on and sheepishly said, "…Heads up."

Tiki looked down and groaned a little. She stepped on a piece of the puzzle she and Yugi found as children, now called the Millennium Puzzle thanks to their grandfather remembering what it was called. Rubbing her foot, she teased, "I see you haven't given up on finishing it."

Yugi teased back, "Says the girl who wears the Queen's Necklace 24/7." Tiki blushed and looked down at the golden necklace with a diamond held by golden wings she very rarely took off. Remembering what was happening the next day, Yugi said, "I don't think they'll let you wear that while at school."

Tiki hid the necklace behind her robe and nightgown and grinned at her brother. "You were saying?"

Yugi was about to argue but, knowing that Tiki had him beat, he just stuck his tongue at her, making her smile. "Come on, you know you love your sister." As she left for breakfast, she saw the smile on his face, confirming his love for his adoptive sister.

* * *

That afternoon, Tiki was walking back home, having just left the store. Pausing, she looked in the bag and smirked: she bought Yugi an alarm clock that had a cartoonish face and two hands that hit the bell when the alarm went off. "Since he doesn't want me jumping on him again, this better do the trick."

She was about to continue on when she noticed what she was standing in front of: a game shop. She wanted to go inside and see what was there but she wondered how Solomon would react if he found out. Her front of her family's house was a game shop that her grandfather ran and Solomon always felt betrayed when either she or Yugi went to another game shop. She was about to turn away when she noticed that this particular game shop had games that recently came into the market that her family's game shop did not carry yet. Getting curious, she went in. As soon as she walked in, though, her attention was drawn to the booths that held Duel Monsters cards, a card game that growing in popularity. She ran up to them and, like a kid in a candy store, began jumping back and forth between the booths. While she was trying to decide what to buy, she started talking to herself. "Ooh! Which one, which one? So many to choose! Well, of course I have to get some packs for Yugi: he's the duelist of the two of us. Oh, but I must figure out a way to bring them home without Grandpa knowing."

Ignoring the people staring at her, Tiki finally decided on two packs for herself and five packs for Yugi and proceeded to the check-out register. As she pulled out her wallet to pay, she was unaware of the tall, young man who just walked into the store. Dressed in a very nice gray business suit with a blue tie and briefcase in his hand, he seemed to portray a sense of perfection about him, shown by his brown hair that was perfectly styled without a single strand out of place and piercing blue eyes that was focused on what he was there to do. His eyes pinpointed the game shop owner, who was giving Tiki her card packs. As the young man approached, Tiki turned around, looking through her card packs and figuring out which one to open first. As she started to open one, however, she crashed into the young man, knocking herself on her behind, scattering the cards from the open pack everywhere, and making him growl, "Watch where you're going!"

Tiki looked up sheepishly at the young man, who stared back at her with unemotional eyes. Blushing deeply with embarrassment, she started to gather up her cards. "I am so sorry, sir!"

The young man sneered a little but said nothing. As his eyes followed her movements, he noticed that one of the cards was on his shoe and, his eyebrow twitching, picked it up. Looking at it, he noted that it was a recently released card called Celestia, Lightsworn Angel. As Tiki stood up with her cards, the young man tensely held out the card. "Here."

Still embarrassed, Tiki took the card, making their fingers touch and causing a static shock. But it was a good shock, one that seemed more like a connection. Both pulled back in surprise, Tiki giving a cute yelp to it. The young man did not react that much, even though he found the shock strange. As she shook her fingers to get sensation back, Tiki smiled and said, "Again, I am so sorry for bumping into you." Her attitude suddenly brightened when she looked at the card he handed her. "Oooh, Celestia, Lightsworn Angel! I never thought I'd get a special card like this!"

The young man remained stone-faced as he observed this girl for a moment. While he could not put his finger on it, there was something about her that was…the only word he could think of was "different." Mentally shaking his head, he looked at the store owner, who nodded and called his assistant manager to take over as cashier. Focusing on her new card, Tiki remained oblivious to the men until the young man turned and paused to tell her, "That is a new card so it has potential…use it wisely."

Tiki looked up as the young man started to walk away. Did he give her some Duel Monsters advice? That meant he was a duelist as well. Smiling, she called out to him, "Thank you! I will!"

She then bowed and left. The young man stopped and nodded before getting on with business.

* * *

That night, Tiki was sitting at Yugi's desk, watching him go through the card packs she gave him. As he did, he listened to his sister tell about her encounter with the young man. After she commented about how emotionless he was, Yugi stated, "He sounds scary."

Tiki waved it off, not wanting to write someone off so quickly. "I don't think so. He wouldn't have given me the advice if he was."

Yugi nodded in agreement, knowing Tiki had a point. He then asked, "Did you get his name?"

Tiki opened her mouth but paused. "I didn't ask…ohh, that was rude of me!"

Yugi grinned. "That doesn't surprise me. You can be a ditz sometimes."

Puffing up her cheeks like a child, Tiki tackled her brother and lightly punched him repeatedly while demanding that he "take it back!", Yugi all the while laughing. Their fun was interrupted by Solomon summoning them to dinner, their mother having made their favorites because of them starting high school the next day.

* * *

The next morning, Yugi and Tiki came out of their rooms and looked at the uniforms the other was wearing. Yugi's male school uniform consisted of a white shirt and blue jacket and pants. Tiki's uniform was a pink long-sleeved jacket with a blue bow at the neck and a blue skirt; she wore white stockings and a blue ribbon pin in her hair to make her look more unique. Tiki teased, "Isn't the jacket supposed to be buttoned?"

Yugi blushed with embarrassment. "It looks too baggy that way."

Tiki giggled, remembering that Yugi always had trouble with clothes because of his small stature. She then asked, "You ready?"

Yugi nodded. "Are you?"

Tiki just nodded. Both of them taking deep breaths, they gathered up their school supplies and toast and left. Down the road, they ran into their good friend Tea. Upon seeing the taller girl with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes, Yugi blushed, making Tiki roll her eyes. The siblings had known Tea for many years and Yugi had been crushing on her almost as long, something Tea was oblivious to since Yugi was too shy to confess his feelings. Looking up, Tea smiled. "Morning, Yugi! Morning, Tiki!

Trying to ignore the blush on his face, Yugi said good morning back. Tiki smirked and whispered, "When will you tell her?"

Yugi glared at his sister as the three friends continued to walk to school. Along the way, they saw more and more students wearing the same uniform, making the siblings nervous. While going from preschool to elementary and then elementary to junior high were nerve-wrecking, this was high school and a lot could happen in those three years. Tea looked at her friends and asked, "You ready for this?"

Yugi and Tiki just nodded.

* * *

When they arrived at Domino High School, they found the bulletin board. In the middle of it, there was a piece of paper that had all the students' names and which homeroom they were going to be in. Arriving when every other student was crowding the bulletin board, Tea stretched her neck a little, barely able to make out the words from the distance. She turned to ask if the siblings could see but almost laughed when she saw Yugi and Tiki jumping up and down, unable to see at all being the smallest among the students. Calming herself down, Tea offered, "Hang on, I'll check for us."

Yugi and Tiki stopped jumping and waited as Tea pushed her way through. Looking around to pass the time, Tiki's eyes widened in surprise: the young man who gave her Duel Monsters advice was among the crowd of students! Looking once again like perfection incarnate with his uniform jacket buttoned and holding the same briefcase as yesterday, he stared at the paper on the board, as if he could read it clearly from a distance. Surprised, Tiki grabbed Yugi's arm, making him yelp. "What?"

Tiki pointed and said, "That's him! That's the guy I told you about!"

Yugi looked up in time to see the young man nod and leave, supposedly going to his homeroom. To his surprise, Yugi commented, "He looks familiar…"

Tiki looked at Yugi and asked him who the young man was. Yugi tried to think but he was having trouble; while he knew the face, he could not remember the name. Before he could admit he was drawing a blank, Tea came back and stated, "Good news! We're all in the same classroom! What luck!"

Yugi nodded and Tiki, though still curious about the student she bumped into yesterday, nodded. "Let's go!"

With that, the three headed up to their homeroom. Once there, Tiki got another surprise: the young man was sitting in the back of the homeroom! Her eyes brightened at the luck she was having: not only was she in the same classroom as her brother and good friend, she was in the same classroom as the mysterious young man! She almost ran up to him but the teacher came in and got everyone to sit down so he could take attendance. Tiki ended up sitting next to her brother, which she was fine with, but she still wanted to at least thank the young man for the advice yesterday. She did not get a chance to even speak to him until after the opening ceremony: she was at her desk and noticed that he was about to pass her. Seeing this, she took a chance and said, "Excuse me…thanks for the advice yesterday."

The young man paused and looked at her with a face as cold as stone before going back to his desk and pulling out a book to pass the time. All the while, Tiki watched him, surprised by his lack of emotions. But what interested her the most was what she saw in his eyes: they seemed cold and distant, as if he was detached from the world. As he continued to read, Tiki wondered, 'I wonder why his eyes seem so—'

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door slid open and the teacher stepped in. Everyone stopping what they were doing, they stood up and bowed before sitting back down. Getting out her notebook and pencil, Tiki made a mental note, 'I guess I'll have to find out later.'

* * *

At the end of the day, everyone gathered their stuff and began leaving. As the two were walking, Yugi looked at Tiki, who seemed lost in thought. Having kept an eye on her all day, he noticed that his sister seemed fascinated with the classmate she ran into yesterday. Yugi himself had studied the young man as well and felt something as well, albeit different from what Tiki felt. Taking a deep breath, he stated, "You should be careful around that guy…" Woken up from her thoughts, Tiki looked at Yugi, who explained further, "Call it a feeling but something is telling me that guy is nothing but trouble."

Tiki giggled and waved it off. "Oh, Yugi! Don't be so paranoid!"

Yugi gave her a look of concern, making Tiki smile. She knew that he was just worried about her and did not want to see her get hurt. "I appreciate your concern."

Yugi smiled. "Of course! I have to look out for my sister."

Tiki smiled and hugged Yugi.

* * *

Later that night, Tiki and Yugi were relaxing in front of the TV, passing the time before they had to go to bed. With their homework done, Tiki was drinking from a juice box and flipping through the channels while Yugi worked on his Duel Monsters deck, trying to find a way to incorporate his new cards he got from the card packets Tiki got him. Though he was not paying attention to the channels, he suddenly looked up and said, "Stop here for a moment."

Tiki looked up and saw it was a news segment about a new technology KaibaCorp, the largest and most successful gaming company in the world, was unveiling, a technology that would make playing Duel Monsters even more fun. Yugi's eyes were glued on the screen while Tiki barely paid attention, content with her role as observer instead of duelist. But her attention was grabbed when the newscaster revealed that the technology was created by the current Duel Monsters champion and CEO of KaibaCorp, Seto Kaiba, and a picture of the CEO appeared on the screen, causing Tiki to do a spit take on Yugi's head. His hair now wet and sticky, Yugi missed the announcement of what the technology was and glared at Tiki. "Really? Really? I just washed my hair yesterday!"

Tiki was too stunned with wide eyes and her mouth open to respond. She finally found her voice and said, "That's him! That's him! That's the guy from our class, the one I ran into!"

Still annoyed by the juice being spat on him, Yugi looked back at the screen and saw that Tiki was telling the truth: the CEO of KaibaCorp Seto Kaiba was the young man! Now Yugi remembered why the young man's face seemed so familiar: anyone who was involved in games, especially Duel Monsters, knew who Seto Kaiba was. Turning around to tell Tiki that she at least knew his name now, he saw the look on her face. She was fascinated by this man and, now that she knew who he was, he seemed out of reach because of how rich and powerful he was. Even though he still had misgivings about Kaiba, Yugi did not want Tiki to feel bad so he said, "I'm sure you'll get to talk to him one day."

Tiki smiled and hugged her brother, only to recoil. "Ew, you're sticky!"

Yugi playfully argued, "This is your fault!"

He then got up to get a shower, plugging his ears to keep from hearing Tiki's teases. When he entered the bathroom, Tiki looked at the news segment as it came to an end. Remembering how distant his eyes were today, she whispered to herself, "Seto Kaiba…what mysteries surround you…?"


	2. Permanent Ripple

Chapter 2

Permanent Ripple

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers. This chapter will coincide with the third chapter of River, with each chapter focusing on a different POV.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

_As the school year continued, Tiki and her brother found big changes in their lives: Yugi was finally able to solve the Millennium Puzzle and, almost immediately after, he and his sister gained friendship in loud-mouthed Joey, tough skeptic Tristan, and American transfer Merina. But there were troubling times that seems to coincide with the solving of the Millennium Puzzle. Every now and then, they had blackouts and, since Tiki was experiencing them at the same time as her brother, they were not diabetic related. Not wanting to lose their new friends, they decided to keep the episodes a secret. Little did they know that the siblings keeping secrets was something in common with someone else in their class._

Sitting in his limousine, Kaiba stared out the window without looking at anything, despising the fact that he was going to Domino High. While he knew knowledge was power, he knew everything that was being taught; in fact, there were times when he knew more than the teachers. Because of that, he found himself once again wondering why he even bothered to continue with this unprivileged education. He then remembered the two reasons: other companies respected CEOs who had not dropped out of school and he could act as his own spy. As CEO of KaibaCorp, he preferred to know what people his age played with before his competition so he could invested in it first. It was the need to succeed that kept him going.

Once at school and at his desk, he pulled out _Also sprach Zarathustra_ and started to read. While he had read it many times, it was the only piece of literature in the entire building that was as smart as he was. He could hear everyone else coming in but he tuned them out, not wanting to be contaminated by their simple-mindedness. He remained in his shell until first period, contemporary society.

The teacher announced that this next report would be a team effort. Having never been one to work with others, Kaiba at least hoped that he would not be paired up with an imbecile like Joey or Tristan. To his silent relief, Joey was paired with Merina and Tristan was paired with Tea. As for the young CEO, he was paired up with the girl who always tried to talk to him, Tiki Mutou. While he was always annoyed by her conversation attempts, he knew that she was smart, which was a relief. Once she got all the students paired up, the teacher asked everyone to sit next to their partners and diskuss the topic for their paper for the rest of the class. Looking back at her partner, Tiki smile nervously and moved to sit next to him in the back. Kaiba stared at her with cold eyes; because of experience, he expected her to be awestruck by the prospect of being close to him and his money. Opening her textbook, she asked, "Any idea what subject we should talk about?"

Kaiba looked at her, seeing her still flipping through her textbook. Looking her up and down, he immediately thought that she was an odd girl, acting like he was a regular guy and getting right on subject. Still, he had to keep his guard up. "It is obvious that you know nothing about politics and economics."

Tiki blushed but nodded with a smile. "Yeah, those are not my strong parts." Stopping at a section, she looked at it and said, "How about this?"

Kaiba looked over and saw the subject of the chapter: The Family. Remembering that the chapter talked about influences history and society had on family life, he demanded, "What part of that subject?"

Tiki thought for a moment and then suggested, "How about a paper that debates traditional and single parenting? In that, we can show if and how each type of parenting affects the child when it comes to life skills."

Hearing her suggestion, Kaiba was hit with a flashback of his and his little brother's first day at the orphanage, where the elder vowed to be the younger's true parent. Even after they were adopted, Kaiba continued to be the younger's parent in a way and the child turned out all right. Seeing Tiki wait for his reaction, he simply said, "Very well."

The girl smiled. "Good. When shall we get together to work?"

Kaiba mentally grimaced. Preparing himself for her begging and flattering to get her way, he stated, "I am very busy with work so I will do my share of the work and then email it to you so you can finish your half."

He looked at her with his steely blue eyes, as if challenging her to even try to get into his mansion. To his surprise, the girl gave him a blank look and asked in a confused but blank voice, "What's email?"

Kaiba could not believe his ears: this girl did not know what email was? Speaking tensely, he stated, "Electronic mail."

Tiki blushed. "Oh…I don't have that." Kaiba braced himself again for her trying to get in his house. As he expected, she asked, "Is there really no way we can get together and work?"

Tensing up, Kaiba hissed, "No. I will do my half and leave it in your locker when I'm done."

Off Tiki's silence, Kaiba got out his book and started to read but he still braced himself for her still trying to get in his house. To his surprise again, he heard her say, "Okay."

Kaiba peeked at her, hiding his surprise. She was going to accept his answer without questions or begging? Wanting to make sure that she would not push it, he told her, "Then I will make a deal with you: I will not visit your house and you will not visit mine. Understood?"

Tiki blinked a little, making Kaiba mentally smirk. Now he was just waiting for her to break down and beg for his attention. But she still agreed to his terms, seemingly wanting to respect his privacy. Not wanting to give her another chance, he said, "Good." As he went back to his book, he sensed that she was still there and stated, "That'll be all."

As if waking up, Tiki thanked him and went back to her desk. The CEO looked up for a moment, studying his classmate. She was the first to not badger him with trying to get into his life and simply accepted his refusal. Shaking his head slightly, he mentally said 'Odd girl" and went back to his book.

* * *

During a free period, Kaiba only looked up from his book once: his classmates Yugi and Joey were playing a game of Duel Monsters. Kaiba himself was a big fan of the card game, both for personal reasons and because it was the game that made him the most money. But he could tell that Joey was a rookie (which did not surprise the CEO at all since the blonde's stupidity was borderline legendary) so he returned to his book after making a mental note to invest a little more in the card game. But he kept his ears open, which proved beneficial to him: he heard Yugi comment that, when his friends were at the family game shop getting Joey better cards, he could ask his grandfather to show off his ultra-rare card. Kaiba immediately became intrigued: in all of Duel Monsters, there was one card that reigned above all as the most powerful. As current champion and head of a gaming company, he knew he was entitled to this rare, powerful card. Now he had to know if Yugi's grandfather had the card he desired.

* * *

After school, Kaiba got the address he needed from the school office and headed to the game shop. Once there, he did his best to ignore how small and insignificant it was and entered. There was an old man behind the counter, supposedly the grandfather, and the siblings Yugi and Tiki and their friends Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Merina standing in front of the counter, bewildered as to why he was there. Amused by their confusion, the CEO explained, "Not that it's any of your business but I overhead that Yugi's grandfather was a card maniac."

Lighting up, Joey suggested, "You play Duel Monsters too? Maybe we can be friends because of the game."

Stepping forward, Kaiba huffed. "No, I'd rather not; I don't associate with anyone who is not in my league. I am the one and only Duel Monsters' national champion. In other words, you are not worth my time."

Pissed off, Joey threatened to show Kaiba up in a physical fight but Yugi held him back. Kaiba started to demand to be shown cards that were worthy of his time when he saw it. It was in a worn-out leather box but there it was: the ultra-rare card Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Pushing past everyone to get a closer look, Kaiba could not believe what he was seeing. With the picture of a bluish-white dragon with blue eyes with ATK 3000 and eight star levels, this was the card that he desired, the card that could wipe out all opponents and assert his place as the best duelist in the world.

Kaiba's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the old man closing the leather box and pulling it back, firmly stating that the card was not for sale. Kaiba growled; he was not about to let this old man keep him from his destiny. Flinging his metal suitcase onto the counter, he opened it and showed the contents to the old shopkeeper, shocking the old man and his classmates. He then laid down his terms: "Old man! If you give me that Blue Eyes White Dragon, I will trade you all these cards in exchange!"

Inside the suitcase lay hundreds of Duel Monster cards; in fact, it was almost every card in existence. But what was even more surprising was the old man's answer: "No."

All but Kaiba were shocked and confused that such a huge offer was turned down. Kaiba, however, thought he knew what the old man wanted instead of cards. "If you won't trade, I will buy! Name your price and I will pay it!"

The old man smiled kindly. "Kaiba, was it? There is a reason why I'm not selling the card: it was given to me by a dear friend. I treasure this card as much as my friend. So I'm sorry but nothing you can pay comes even close to its value."

Kaiba was shocked: how dare this man turn him down, especially after two VERY generous offers! He was so infuriated that he almost did not hear the old man admit to everyone that the special card has the same heart as the friend who gave it to him. Shaking in fury, Kaiba slammed his suitcase closed and stormed out before he could yell at the old man that his belief was wrong, that cards were all about power, not heart. Once he was in his limo and was being driven towards KaibaCorp, his blood continued to boil in his anger as he felt his want/need to have the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, by any means necessary.

* * *

_The next day, Kaiba's henchmen paid a visit to Solomon Mutou's game shop, "inviting" him to come to KaibaCorp to duel their boss. After quickly realizing that this was very serious, the old man agreed, unknowingly starting the wheels of fate…_

* * *

As the sun started to set, Kaiba personally called the game shop. While he could have called earlier, he suspected that the Mutou siblings had closing duties since the henchmen said that they did not see them when they picked up the old man. As the phone rang, his feeling of pride and smugness grew as he thought about what happened moments ago. His thoughts were interrupted by Yugi answering. After identifying himself, Kaiba said in a slightly creepy voice, "Your grandfather is with me. Why don't you come to my office and pick him up?"

Before Yugi could answer, the young CEO hung up. Feeling his prize in his hand, he smirked coldly: everything was going his way, as it should be.

* * *

To the CEO's delight, he did not have to wait long: Yugi, Tiki, and their friends made it to KaibaCorp in record time. He stayed hidden in the arena for a moment, giving the Mutou siblings a chance to check on Solomon, who was collapsed on the floor. Deciding that he waited long enough, Kaiba appeared in the doorway. The group demanded to know what he did to the old man. Making it very clear by his body language that he was not sorry at all, the brunette sneered, "We just had a duel, putting up our best card as the ante. It's not my fault he couldn't handle my Virtual Simulator."

Furious, Tea accused him of cheating. Normally, Kaiba would have been insulted at such an accusation but he was not bothered this time because he knew Tea rarely played; but, most of all, he was not bothered because of his prize. "We dueled fair and square. I have the proof you need."

He revealed Solomon's treasured card and then did something that shocked and disgusted everyone: he ripped the card in half. Tossing the two halves away, he stated coldly, "The rules of Duel Monsters stated that you can only have three copies of a card in your deck. So now this card will never be used against me."

Too shocked to fully comprehend what Kaiba said, Solomon almost collapsed in pain and sadness. Ever though the old man needed medical attention, Kaiba felt the urge to rub more salt into the wound, especially after Solomon passed on his own deck to his grandson. Yugi did not want to duel since his grandfather was in critical condition but the CEO urged Yugi to take revenge, knowing that was what Yugi desired above all. When Yugi's friends stepped in to convince him to duel their friend, the tall high schooler went back into the dueling arena to wait for his opponent. He was looking forward to crushing the same deck, especially since his new opponent would be the deck owner's relative. Just as soon as he got to his platform, the Mutou siblings walked into the arena, Yugi clutching the deck. They each had ink on their right hands but that did not matter to Kaiba. Instead, he pointed to the other platform so Yugi would know where to go, getting excited about what he was about to do. Once the two were standing at their platforms, the CEO set the arena to his Special Rules, as he hated street rules, gave each of them 2000 Life Points, and started the Virtual Simulator. But, as he looked at his opponent, there was something different about Yugi, so much so that Kaiba shouted in confusion.

Seemingly a little taller than before and with lightening-shaped streaks going up his hair, it was the look in his opponent's eyes that surprised the brunette the most: they were more piercing and more confident than ever before. But Kaiba woke up from being startled, deciding that crushing this more confident "Yugi" would be even more satisfying than defeating an old man who could barely handle his style of dueling. To give "Yugi" a taste of what was in store, the CEO played the Hitotsu-Me Giant (ATK 1200). To "Yugi's" surprise, a huge hologram of the green-skinned Cyclops appeared on the square of the field that corresponded to the square on the playing board where the card was placed. Amused by "Yugi's" reaction, Kaiba smugly explained, "Impressive, isn't it? It's the latest in holographic technology."

Realizing that it was the holographic system that overwhelmed his grandfather, "Yugi" played Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress (ATK 1400). Seconds later, a medium-sized blue dragon with huge teeth appeared on its square. Just then, Joey and Merina ran into the arena. Kaiba made note of the blonds and saw that they were standing next to "Tiki," whom the CEO had forgotten was there. In the brief glimpse, he noticed that the innocent-looking girl now had curly hair and looked like "she" carried "herself" like a confidant member of a royal family. Mentally shrugging, he refocused on the duel, liking the idea of crushing "Yugi" in front of "his" sister and friends.

Seeing its opponent, the Hitotsu-Me Giant attacked the Winged Dragon but, as it had more ATK points, the Winged Dragon spat a fireball at the Cyclops upon "Yugi's" attack command. The attack hit the green giant, destroying it and lowering Kaiba's Life Points to 1800. As a boy with long black hair came in to cheer for his big brother, Kaiba brushed off the small decrease in his Life Points and said as he drew a card, "This will not be an interesting game if the players don't play multiple monsters."

With that, he played Saggi the Dark Clown (ATK 600), confusing "Yugi" and the three observers: why would Kaiba summon a weak monster? Kaiba admitted that he knew Saggi would quickly parish in this state but he had a card to combat the situation: Negative Energy Generator, a magic card that could triple the ATK points of a Dark Attribute Monster like Saggi. Now with 1800, the clown attacked and destroyed the Winged Dragon off Kaiba's command. Watching "Yugi's" Life Points be reduced to 1600, Kaiba sneered, "How do you like being cut down by a destructive Combo Attack?"

Even at a slight distance, Kaiba could see the beads of sweat forming on "Yugi's" face. This was what he lived for, seeing defeat on an opponent's face. Even if said opponent would try to fight on, there was no turning back once they had that look. As if stalling for time, "Yugi" started to play monsters in defense mode. Even though attacking monsters in defensive mode would not reduce "Yugi's" Life Points, the brunette still enjoyed Saggi's dominant reign on the field. Ignoring the blondes' cheering their friend on, the brunette waited for the tri-color-haired teenager to surrender. Thinking that his words would push "Yugi" over the edge, he sneered, "This is the same deck made by that old geezer? He is dying as we speak; in fact, I can hearing his final gasps of breath with every card you draw!"

Kaiba knew he was hitting below the belt but he knew from business dealings that sometimes being personal like this was necessary to win. To his surprise, "Yugi" proudly sated, "Grandpa gave me these cards because he has faith in me! And it is not dying gasps I hear but his burning, ambitious soul! Kaiba, do you have the same faith in your cards as I do in mine?!"

Kaiba hesitated a little. While he knew his deck was powerful and had never failed him before, he was not used to his opponents either standing up to him like this or demanding him to stand up for his own deck. "Yugi" stated that "he" believed in "his" cards and drew from "his" deck. Either from luck or faith, "he" hit the jackpot with Gaia the Fierce Knight (ATK 2300). As a huge, purple horse carrying a knight with blue and red armor and a metal spear in each hand, it attacked the Dark Clown and destroyed it, making Kaiba's Life Points 13000. As if sensing Kaiba's smugness about his potential win, "Yugi" reminded Kaiba, "The winner has not been determined yet!"

Amused that his opponent was still fighting and even managed to dent his Life Points, Kaiba brushed off "Yugi's" words and drew from his deck. Seeing the card he just drew, the brunette was glad that his deck shared the same confidence that they would win as they always did. He then played the card, revealing to be the Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000)! Everyone on "Yugi's" side was shocked: how could Seto Kaiba have the very card that he ripped up moments ago? Almost laughing at their confusion, the brunette ordered the dragon to attack with its powerful lightening attack, destroying Gaia and reducing "Yugi's" Life Points to 900. With his most powerful monster on the field, Kaiba decided to both explain and rub it in. "I get what I want, when I want, and however I can get it. And with two other Blue Eyes somewhere in my deck, there is no way for you to win."

"Yugi" started to get worried, causing a tingle of pleasure to go down Kaiba's spine. While he was impressed that "Yugi" lasted as long as "he" did, the brunette knew that it was all for naught, both against his skills and against his White Dragon. As the game continued, "Yugi" continued to play monsters in defense mode, easy targets for the White Dragon to destroy. After a few turns, Kaiba teased, "How much longer do you plan to keep using Defense Mode? You shouldn't have too many cards left…especially since I just drew the second Blue-Eyes."

Summoning the second dragon, Kaiba imagined the boulder that was defeat getting bigger and heavier on "Yugi's" shoulders. With his victory within sight, he demanded, "Just give up and admit defeat! You cannot win!"

To the brunette's annoyance, "Yugi" refused to surrender and drew a card. As with Gaia earlier, "he" drew a card that could save "him": Swords of Revealing Light, a magic card that keeps the opponent's monsters from attacking for three full turns. Laughing, Kaiba pointed out, "How pointless! What can you possibly do in three turns?"

The brunette could tell by the look on "Yugi's" face that his voice was ringing true, especially when "Yugi" closed his eyes in supposed defeat. But then "Yugi" hesitated, annoying Kaiba. "Hurry up and draw your card!"

"Yugi" glared at Kaiba and drew the card, "his" face lighting up when "he" saw the card. While Kaiba was curious about "Yugi's" change in attitude, he openly stated that the result would be the same no matter what. To prove his point, he played Judge Man (ATK 2200), a Viking-look-alike with two spiked clubs in its hands, and had it attack the defense monster "Yugi" placed on the same turn as Swords of Revealing Light. Prideful that he had a monster that was unaffected by the Swords (having been summoned after the magic card was played), he planned to let Judge Man be the dominant power until his dragons were free. But his plan was cut short when "Yugi" summoned the Dark Magician (ATK 2500). The purple-clad magician did away with the opposing monster, almost evening the Life Points with "Yugi" still at 900 and Kaiba now at 1000. Unafraid, Kaiba sneered, "As harmful as a mosquito bite…with one turn remaining until the swords disappear…"

He then made "Yugi's" nightmare even worse: he summoned his third and final Blue Eyes! Unlike its brothers, this dragon was unaffected by the swords and easily destroyed the magician, leaving "Yugi" with a measly 400 Life Points left. His victory inches from his grasp, especially since the Swords expired and released the other two dragons, the brunette taunted, "Yugi…draw your last card…for I will attack you with all three Blue Eyes on my next turn! For, no matter what card you draw, you will die."

Kaiba could tell that "Yugi" could feel defeat breathing down "his" neck. Seeing his opponent aware of the end and hesitating to draw "his" last card was exhilarating for Kaiba. He had seen such a face many time on many opponents; the fact that, this time, it was the same deck he had already defeated made his victory even more thrilling. But then he saw something: "Yugi" lit up, as if the weight on "his" shoulders left. Kaiba chuckled, thinking he knew the look on "Yugi's" face. "Is that defeat I see? Do you finally see that you cannot win?"

Deep down, he was a bit impressed, albeit annoyed, that "Yugi" did not surrender, even in the face of three Blue Eyes White Dragons. But "Yugi" simply said, "No…it is hope you see…for the card I just drew…is Exodia!"

"Yugi" held up the card and, once he got a good look at it, Kaiba almost had a panic attack. "What?!"

Everyone who played Duel Monsters knew of the legendary monster Exodia the Forbidden One. The reason the monster was so legendary was that it gave its summoner an automatic victory and it could only be played when a duelist drew all five pieces of the monster; because of that clause, no one had ever played Exodia until now. "Yugi" played all five cards and summoned the monster (ATK ∞). Visibly shaken by the sight of the golden demi-god, Kaiba could not believe this was happening, that "Yugi" was able to make an impossible miracle happen. He hoped that this was nothing more than a bad dream, one that he wanted to wake up from. Unfortunately, he got a harsh reminder that this was reality when "Yugi" ordered Exodia to obliterate the three dragons and the invincible monster did just that. As his three mighty dragons were destroyed, Kaiba let out a scream because, for the first time in his life, Seto Kaiba lost.

The blonds and "Tiki" were proud of "Yugi" and the black-haired child was just as stunned as his big brother. "Yugi" tried to explain that power in a card was nothing without a heart to connect a player to the card and it was this connection that gave him this miracle but Kaiba was too furious to listen; how could he, Seto Kaiba, CEO of KaibaCorp and gaming protégé, lose to a nobody? He did not focus on his defeater's voice until he heard "Yugi" yell, "Mind Crush!"

Kaiba looked up and suddenly felt something shatter in his mind. His anger ended in an instant but it was immediately hit with another feeling, a feeling that made him collapse to his knees: he felt as if a huge boulder had been placed on his shoulders. Yugi and his group left, seemingly to check on Solomon at the hospital, but Kaiba took a moment, as if adjusting to the new weight on him. Was this what defeat felt like? As the kid tried to get his brother's attention, Kaiba came to a sad realization: he had carried this weight for a long time and had gotten numb to it until today when a little more weight was added. When he came to that realization, he stepped down and led the black-haired boy to their limo. All the way there, the kid tried to get his big brother to talk to him but his words fell on deaf ears as Kaiba ran the defeat over and over in his head. He decided to try and live with this boulder on his shoulder as he had done for all these years. However, word of his defeat got around and his work became affected because of it, the CEO knew that he could not take it anymore: he had to get away for a while, to figure everything out.

* * *

_Two days after his defeat, Kaiba told his little brother that he was going away for a while to clear his head, especially since he was not sure about his philosophy about the game anymore. The kid tried to remind him that cards were indeed about power but his words fell on deaf ears since Kaiba wondered, if his philosophy was true, why could he not defeat Yugi and his deck full of heart? Entrusting his little brother to the access card that could unlock the safe that held the most crucial data and information needed to run KaibaCorp, the CEO left for a remote house in the middle of nowhere, stopping by Domino High first to both tell them that he was stepping away for a while (knowing he could do that) and to leave something behind._

_The next day, Tiki opened her locker to find it full of research papers and all sorts of information fore hers and Kaiba's paper for contemporary society. Attached to the pile was a note hand-written by Kaiba himself: "Don't mess this up. I don't need a failing grade on top of my defeat." Tiki sighed a little and looked at the sky, wondering where Kaiba went._

_Little did Kaiba know that taking a sabbatical set a series of events in motion, events that spelled even more trouble for his company…_


	3. Loss of Honor

Chapter 3

Loss of Honor

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

Once he was settled into the house overlooking the ocean, (a secret purchase he made years ago as a place to get away and recharge), Kaiba went to work. While he was trying not think about the defeat "Yugi" gave him, he knew that it was something he could never get away from. Because of that, he decided to spend this time away working on another way to face his rival. For the longest time, he had wanted to develop a new way to duel, both for duelists to duel anywhere and for a more personal reason. Pulling up the programs on his computers, the CEO pulled out the Duel Disk, a small round computer that had a large wrist band for holding the deck, a space in the center for the attacking monster card, and four more spaces for another monster, spell, and/or trap card. While he worked, he wondered, 'How did Yugi find the strength to defeat me? He did not have more power than I did…'

Pausing, he started to go through the duel, focusing on when he played his Blue Eyes White Dragon and when "Yugi" played Exodia. Remembering what "Yugi" was fighting for, Kaiba realized, 'There's only one logical conclusion: we were fighting for different reasons. His grandfather gave him that deck and, with it, Exodia. Because of that, he fought with everything he had to protect the heart of that card.'

Taking a deep breath, he continued working. Even if he came to the conclusion that it was heart that gave "Yugi" the victory, Kaiba was still determined to win with the power he had always used before, starting with this new system. 'With this new super computer I installed, I can now duel anywhere. Once I finish this, I will return and face Yugi on equal grounds.'

Finishing putting the cover back on the duel disk, the brunette set aside the screwdriver but paused. He knew he was alone so why was he hearing footsteps outside the door? Putting the duel disk in his metal briefcase with another disk and his card collection, he was about to escape when two suited men with sunglasses and loaded guns burst into the room. Pointing their guns at Kaiba, they ordered him to not move. As the young CEO turned around to face them, calm as ever, the first suit stated, "Kaiba Seto, you must come with us."

The brunette stood up, making the suits relieved since they assumed he would take them and their guns seriously and join them quietly. But Kaiba smirked and sneered, "I see…so, even if I said 'no,' you will not listen."

The suits got a little nervous but they had a job to do so the second suit confirmed what Kaiba said. Kaiba's smirk widened. Refusing to be a victim, especially to suits, he kicked his office chair at them, knocking them down. His plan was to jump over them and run out but, as he grabbed his briefcase, he had to quickly change tactics when the second suit shot at him, as if he wanted revenge instead of completing the job. Reacting quickly, the CEO used his briefcase to block the bullet and escaped the only way he could: out the window. Having recovered their footing, the suits looked out the window and, seeing nothing but the sheer drop to the ocean, they became relieved that they did not have to lock him up now. But even if they could not bring the CEO in, they could complete their other assignment because, in his hurry, Kaiba left something very valuable…

* * *

_Just a few hours had passed in Duelist Kingdom and people had already been eliminated. The very first duel was "Yugi" and Weevil Underwood, "Yugi" determined to eliminate the Regional Champion first for throwing the Exodia cards overboard on the boat ride over. To the spectators' surprise, "Yugi" eliminated Weevil without breaking a sweat. Minutes later, Joey dueled the loud and confidant Mai Valentine and earned his first victory, shocking Mai who only challenged him because she suspected that he would be easy to defeat. After "Yugi" got challenged by and defeated fisherman Mako Tsunami, "he" and Joey looked around for another opponent, not knowing that Yugi was about to be challenged by someone who was trying to prevent certain wheels from turning._

As they walked away from the shoreline where "Yugi" dueled Mako, the small high-schooler took a moment to reflect. There to get his grandfather's soul back (his soul having been taken by Pegasus' Millennium Eye to assure that Yugi would even take part in Duelist Kingdom), he knew that he had a fighting chance now that he was accepting the "other self" feeling taking over before a duel. But he knew that his biggest chance came from the fact that he was not alone. As his sister, Tiki was allowed to come as a special guest. Joey tried to sneak onboard but was caught; he ended up staying, however, because Yugi wanted to give him a chance and gave Joey one of his Star Chips. Once on the ship, the three of them were surprised to see that Merina, Tea, and Tristan had snuck onto the ship to support their friend. Because of them, Yugi believed that he had more of a chance. Brushing some sand off her purple dress, Tiki noticed the look on her brother's face. "Something on your mind?"

Yugi shook his head as everyone continued to walk. Coming upon a meadow, the group heard a kid scream for help. Going to his rescue, they soon discovered that it was a young duelist in a chokehold by Kemo, Pegasus' head bodyguard. Without thinking about the consequences, Tristan went on the attack, grabbing Kemo so that the suit would let go of the duelist and throwing the bodyguard onto the ground. He was glad that he was able to do something to help while on the island but his pride was shattered by Kemo recovering his footing and giving the high schooler a hard kick to the chest. As Kemo grabbed the young duelist again, Joey stepped forward, deciding to fight with words first. "Hey! Back off, you bastard!"

Merina agreed. "What kind of man are you, picking on someone five times smaller than you?!"

Kemo warned them, "This is not your concern. Now, all of you, leave." Wanting to drive the point home, he turned around and explained, "I have every right: all of his Star Chips are gone."

Though in pain from the tight grip, the young duelist had to tell his side of the story. "That's not true! They were stolen from me! My Star Chips and my cards!"

Not caring, Kemo strictly told his captive, "The rules state that duelists with no Star Chips can't stay here on the island."

Believing that he made his point and that everyone would accept his words because he was employed by Pegasus, Kemo left with his victim. The duelist continued to try and fight and reason with Kemo but the suit was unmoved, ignoring the boy until they reached the docks where a boat full of other duelists and two more suits were waiting. Announcing that he had one more set for the mainland, the head bodyguard threw the duelist into the boat. The theft victim gave up hope and became resigned to his fate that he would be removed from Duelist Kingdom too soon when he and the bodyguards heard some yells. Looking up, they saw it was Yugi and his friends. Grateful that they arrived just in time, Yugi quickly asked, "Excuse me, do you know who stole your Star Chips?"

Now hopeful that he would get a chance to stay, the boy admitted, "I didn't see his face; he covered it with a handkerchief. It all happened so fast too: he appeared out of nowhere and challenged me to a duel."

Remembering where they found the duelist and Kemo, Merina asked to verify, "At the grassland arena, right?"

The theft victim nodded. "But, as soon as I set down my deck and Star Chips, he grabbed them and ran off."

Never a fan of cheating or crimes in games, Yugi stated, "We'll find the guy who did this."

Merina stared hard at Kemo, believing she was better for this confirmation simply because she was taller than Yugi. "So give us some time. The kid deserves a chance."

Though he hated kids standing up to him, Kemo told the group, "You have 30 minutes. If you're not back by then, this boat is leaving."

Wanting to get a word in edgewise, Tea told Kemo and the young duelist, "That's plenty of time. We'll find him."

Tristan commented that he wanted to get his fists in the thief and Joey agreed. "Damn straight. A Duelist's Star Chips are a Duelist's life. This bastard won't be forgiven by me!"

The theft victim thanked them with tears in his eyes as the group were quietly impressed: despite him being a punk growing up, having an attitude, and only recently getting into Duel Monsters, Joey had an honor code and it was seeping into his dueling ways. But he returned to "normal" when he added, "By the way, if I catch him, I'd like half of your Star Chips as a reward."

The group was embarrassed and not embarrassed, especially they were used to Joey like this. Having just met him, the duelist was too stunned at such a high demand to neither confirm nor deny the request. Joey quickly turned around and demanded that everyone go back to the arena and start the hunt for the thief. As they headed back to the grassland arena, Merina stated, "You are an idiot: taking about Star Chips being a Duelist's life and then demanding half of the kid's."

Joey laughed and said, "It was just a joke." Before Merina or Tristan could scold him further, Joey scratched his head and realized, "Problem is, we don't have clues to go off of…so how the hell are we supposed to find him?"

Tiki suggested, "Well, it's been said that criminals often return to the scene of the crime…"

Yugi agreed. "They were stolen from that arena." He and Tiki ran up to the arena and sat down. When asked what they were doing, Yugi stated, "We're going to follow Tiki's advice and wait for the criminal to return."

Joey agreed but for a different reason. "Well, we could use a break."

Merina rolled her eyes and then looked at the siblings. "Can we really catch this guy just hanging out here? I mean, no one's that lucky."

Seconds later, however, the American was forced to eat her words when all of a sudden a kid wearing a winter cap on his head and a handkerchief around his face jumped out of the bushes. "I finally found you, Yugi!"

Everyone stood up, Joey and Tristan wanting to attack the thief. Though Tea and Merina told them to back off (not fair to have two high schoolers beat up a kid), the two teenagers were still determined to at least get the Star Chips back. Yugi, however, realized something: "Guys, he came for me." Turning to the thief, he asked to confirm, "Do you want to duel me?"

Almost shaking in anger and tension, the kid nodded. Accepting the challenge, Yugi and the thief took their places on the platforms. Everyone was worried and silently agreed with Tristan when he said, "No matter what Yugi says, I'm not going to let that kid go if he tries to steal Yugi's Star Chips."

As Yugi and Tiki allowed the black-out feelings to take over, the kid recoiled a little, noticing the change in attitude in his opponent. Looking at the thief, "Yugi" and "Tiki" noticed that the thief's eyes looked familiar. Keeping the recognition in the back of "his" mind, "Yugi" got down to business. "How many Star Chips are you betting?"

The thief held up five fingers, which was convenient since that was the amount "Yugi" had. But "he" accepted this match so "he" accepted the terms and removed all the Star Chips from "his" glove. "His" opponent further proved himself to be the thief by reaching into his pocket and dumping five Star Chips onto the platform. As everyone realized they were lucky enough to find the thief, Tristan asked, "Why are we even wasting our time with this duel?"

Merina shrugged a little. When Tea suggested that maybe "Yugi" knew who the thief really was, the blond American gave her a look. "How can he know? We can't see his face."

Before Tea could argue, "Tiki" touched Merina's shoulder and nodded, as if to say that Tea was telling the truth. Curious, Merina asked, "Do you recognize him as well?"

"Tiki" opened "her" mouth but nothing came out. After trying to talk, "she" gave up and pointed to "her" throat with an annoyed look on "her" face. At first confused, Merina remembered that "Tiki" was silent when "Yugi" battled Kaiba. Curious about why, the American wanted to ask "Tiki" what happened to "her" voice when the duel started. The thief made the first move with the Man-Eating Plant (ATK 800). Determined to take this duel seriously, especially since "he" was battling to help someone else, "Yugi" countered with Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress (ATK 1400) and had the dragon attack. As the flower was destroyed and the thief's Life Points went down to 1400, "Yugi" scolded, "You can't defeat me by stealing someone else's Star Chips, especially since your heart is not in your cards."

Growling, the thief snapped, "Shut up! I don't believe that 'cards have heart' stuff! Cards don't have heart; they're all about power!"

"Yugi" and "Tiki's" heads lifted a little, "his" suspicions confirmed. "He" recognized the eyes from a certain spectator at "his" duel with Kaiba and from news photos that featured Kaiba and his shadow, the boy before "him." "I thought so. You're Kaiba Seto's brother…Mokuba!"

Surprised that his disguise was not good enough to fool "Yugi," the thief removed his handkerchief, revealing that he was indeed Mokuba Kaiba! Everyone were shocked, Merina being the least shocked: because they were not deeply involved in Duel Monsters, they did not know that Kaiba even had a little brother. Taking off his hat and letting his long black hair free, Mokuba started to shake and hissed, "My brother has been hurting ever since you defeated him. Now…thanks to you…KaibaCorp will be taken over by Pegasus!"

Everyone froze. They knew that Pegasus wanted to duel "Yugi" again and was holding Solomon's soul as ransom but why did he want Kaiba's company? Mokuba explained that it was Pegasus who spread the news of Kaiba's defeat like wildfire, causing investors to lose interest and withdraw. The child then recalled spying on a meeting between Pegasus and the Big Five, the five most powerful employees for KaibaCorp. In the meeting, they agreed to let Pegasus take over KaibaCorp, even going as far as agreeing to give him all their shares, as long as Pegasus would defeat Yugi in a duel and as soon as Mokuba gave up the key card Kaiba gave him. Shivering with fright and glad that he was able to escape the castle, Mokuba yelled, "This is all your fault, Yugi! You caused all this!"

"Yugi" let the boy have his yells. Being young, he obviously looked up to his older brother and had been given a terrible burden by both Kaiba and his kidnappers. Remaining calm, "he" simply stated, "While I understand, you still had no right to steal that boy's deck."

His anger blinding him, Mokuba played Crocodilus (ATK 1100) and ordered it to attack, too upset to realize that he played a weaker card. He got the frustrating reminder when Winged Dragon destroyed Crocodilus and lowered his life points to 1100. Normally, "Yugi" would have scolded "his" opponent for thinking that "he" could be defeated by weak monsters but "he" knew that Mokuba was a special case, too young and too upset to think clearly. Instead, "he" stated, "It's useless to continue this fight. That deck is stolen so you cannot win."

Joey agreed. "Stealing Star Chips is pathetic!"

Merina gave the blond a look. "Says the guy who wants half of the stolen Star Chips."

Joey did not like being teased about his jokes, especially his bad ones, but Mokuba got their attention with his defense: "You guys don't get it! I need to take my brother's place if I want to save KaibaCorp!"

Confused, "Tiki" looked at Merina and shrugged, as if asking if the blond understood what the child meant. As just confused, Merina shook her head. Tea, however, started to understand. "Wait…so, before Yugi loses to Pegasus…"

Hearing that, Merina put the rest of the pieces together: "…if Mokuba steals Yugi's Star Chips, he'll be disqualified and never get the duel with Pegasus."

Dense as ever, Tristan asked the girls to run that by him again. Joey scolded his friend for not getting it before asking Merina and Tea to clarify their statements to him as well. "Tiki" face-palmed "herself" as Tea said, "If Yugi loses, the plans between Pegasus and the Big Five can't happen."

Seeing that the boys were still confused, Merina stated, "In other words, Yugi can't lose against Pegasus if he never duels him in the first place."

"Yugi himself" now understanding, "he" turned to Mokuba, only to find the other platform empty. Having realized that he could never defeat "Yugi" in a duel, Mokuba decided that there was only one thing to do: he ran up to "Yugi" and grabbed "his" Star Chips. He only managed to get two in his hurry but he had no time to go back and get the rest as he jumped from the platform and started to run. The group started to give chase but it was "Yugi's" words that stopped the child: "You'll never save KaibaCorp this way!" When Mokuba paused, "Yugi" gently but firmly stated, "Your brother is in pain right now; all he needs to return to normal is to search for his cards' heart and his true pride and he needs to do that on his own. Once he does, he will return, I promise. But tell me: do you want your brother returning to find that KaibaCorp has lost its entire reputation because his brother was a thief?"

As much as the child wanted to help, Mokuba did not want his current actions to do more damage, especially if they would make Kaiba angry. He had seen his brother furious at him before and he did not want to go through that again. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "But…what CAN I do?"

Relieved that the child was listening now, "Yugi" said, "Leave Pegasus to me. I promise you, I will defeat him."

Mokuba was inclined to believe "him;" after all, if "Yugi" could defeat his brother, Pegasus might not be as big of a problem as he thought. "Yugi" then told the child, "But first things first: if you want to help your brother right now, you must return those Star Chips and cards to that boy."

Looking at her watch, Tea realized, "The boat will leave in three minutes!"

Merina stated, "All of us can make it if we run."

Looking at Merina's all-jean outfit, "Tiki" nodded and everyone took off for the dock. Along the way, Merina asked, "By the way, Tiki, what happened to your voice?"

"Tiki" tried to answer but, being mute, "she" could only shrug. The American almost demanded a proper answer again but two things stopped her: "Tiki" face showed that "she" genuinely had no idea why "she" was mute and they had more pressing matters to attend to. But, halfway there, "Yugi" stopped and pointed out into the ocean. Looking at what "he" was pointing at, everyone paled: the boat had already left! Judging by how far it was, it left a while ago. Now angry, they continued to the dock where Kemo was watching the boat. Hearing them, he stated, "You're too late. The boat has already been shipped off."

Merina growled, "That's not fair! We still had time!"

Kemo peeked at them and rubbed salt in the wound by saying, "Time? How do you mean?"

Everyone grew angrier as Mokuba tentatively went up to Kemo. He hoped that he could make things right by asking Kemo to call back the boat and revealing he got the stolen Star Chips back. But the child learned the hard way that it is not wise to put too much faith in people when Kemo smacked his hand and sent the Star Chips flying into the ocean. Joey yelled, "Hey, some of those were Yugi's!"

Feeling worse than ever, Mokuba turned and apologized for getting them into this mess. Feeling full of himself, Kemo stated, "If a duelist is stupid enough to have his Star Chips stolen, he is too stupid to even be here."

"Tiki" silently growled, even though Kemo was really talking about the theft victim. He then grabbed Mokuba and coldly stated, "If this brat wants Star Chips, he needs to win Star Chips like everyone else. Now, you little brat, let's get you back to the castle. You should be ashamed of yourself for making Master Pegasus worry so much."

Everyone tensed up as "Yugi" stated, "I still have three Star Chips left. But I'm willing to bet all of them to challenge you for Mokuba's freedom!"

Amused at the teenagers continuing to stand up to him, Kemo chuckled. "I don't duel…but, if you really want to throw away your Star Chips, I can find an opponent for you. In one hour, meet me back at the grassland arena."

As much as everyone hated Kemo, they had no choice but to accept, especially with him holding Mokuba prisoner.

* * *

An hour later, the group came back to the grassland arena. Taking off her jean jacket to cool off, Merina asked, "Do you think that bastard will even show up?"

"Tiki" nodded and pointed to Kemo, who was holding Mokuba in a chokehold. "Yugi" demanded that the bodyguard let Mokuba go. Almost laughing, the head suit stated, "I'll consider letting him go if you win."

"Yugi" bravely said, "I will win. Who is my opponent?"

Grinning darkly, Kemo pointed to the red platform. Everyone looked and almost had heart attacks: it was Kaiba! But Kaiba seemed possessed, with dark circles under dull eyes and an echo in his voice as he hissed, "Yugi…I must have revenge…revenge…revenge…"

Laughing at everyone's shocked reactions, Kemo stated, "You get to duel Kaiba Seto again! Or, should I say, duel Kaiba Seto's spirit!"

Watching through her other self's eyes, Tiki found herself worried with what Kemo was saying. "Yugi" and Mokuba demanded that Kemo explain himself and the suit did. "I just told you: Kaiba Seto is no longer living."

Everyone was shocked: Kaiba was dead?! Mokuba refused to believe that. "You're lying!"

Kemo sneered, "This is one thing I am not lying about! He died because his hate for Yugi Mutou consumed him! So, like I said, the one standing there is Kaiba's spirit."

"Yugi" shook "his" head, refusing to listen. "Impossible!"

Kemo chuckled. "So what will you do, Yugi? Fight or run off?"

Knowing that "he" had to get Mokuba away from Kemo and Pegasus, "Yugi" nodded. "I will duel and reveal that fake's true self."

As "Yugi" went to the blue platform to face the Ghost of Kaiba, Merina looked at Mokuba. "Don't worry, kid. Yugi will take care of this imposter."

Tiki hoped so, especially since she felt her heart was cracked at the idea of Kaiba dead. While her faith sometimes condemned those who committed suicide, she knew that was not why her heart was hurting. Her heart continued to crack when Ghost Kaiba started to speak. "Yugi…I am now dead…" Ignoring "Yugi" telling him to stop lying, the ghost continued, "When I was defeated…I was lost everything…including my life. What you did…is unforgivable…now I am about to enter hell! But I made a deal with the devil…I will willingly enter hell…dragging you along with me…"

Inside her heart, Tiki covered her ears and collapsed to her knees. 'No…please! Seto, stop it! Come back!'

She then paused and thought about what she said: she called Kaiba by his first name and the idea of him gone upset her. 'Do I…?' She nodded. 'Yes…I care for him…I…'

All of a sudden, she heard an unknown female voice: _Everything will be all right. Just watch._

Startled by the voice, her attention was grabbed when "Yugi" hissed, "Do you really think you can intimidate with that spirit talk?"

Intending to twist the knife further, Ghost Kaiba hissed, "Let's see if you'll still say that after you beat my deck…"

That settled it for "Yugi." "Even if you look and sound like Kaiba, you will never have the deck he forged with his own two hands."

Ghost Kaiba sneered that "Yugi" was allowed to think anything "he" wanted. Wanting to get his views in, Mokuba declared, "My brother can't be killed off so easily!"

Joey agreed. "Yugi, don't listen to that fake!"

Merina added, "Just focus on the duel and getting Mokuba back!"

"Yugi" nodded but, no matter how much "he" tried to concentrate, "he" was still furious towards this Kaiba imposter. Kaiba was the greatest opponent "he" had ever faced and "he" was not about to let this fake insult the CEO's honor. Both agreeing to bet three Star Chips, the duel began. Ghost Kaiba made the opening move with a familiar monster: the Hitotsu-Me Giant (ATK 1200)! "Yugi" could not believe it, recognizing it as the opening move Kaiba made during their first duel. Mokuba recognized the card. "My brother has that card too…"

Merina scoffed. "Kid, that doesn't mean it's the same deck."

Overhearing that, "Yugi" calmed "himself" down. This was obviously a distracting tactic that the imposter was trying and it was an easy one to do, especially since the Hitotsu-Me Giant was a fairly common card and because every duelist in the world had probably watched footage for the now-famous duel. Showing that "he" was not shaken, "Yugi" played the Dark Magician (ATK 2500). The powerful magician easily destroyed the giant and reduced Ghost Kaiba's Life Points to 700. Ghost Kaiba sarcastically shivered. "As strong as ever…as ever…"

"Yugi" growled at "his" opponent. Joey worried, "Yugi's getting fazed by this dude."

Merina shook her head, recognizing such a tactic. "It's similar to what Mai did to you: distract your opponent with tricks, words, and other things to keep his mind off the game. It's despicable but a common ploy."

Remembering Mai's aroma tactics, the group hoped that it was the same and that, like Joey, "Yugi" would ignore the tricks and focus on the game. Still, what Ghost Kaiba said rattled everyone: "Yugi…I can read your mind…in fact, what you're thinking now is…'maybe this really is Kaiba's deck…'am I right?" "Yugi" remained silent, allowing Ghost Kaiba to continue. "You are correct! This is Kaiba Seto's deck! That's why…my spirit remains linked to this deck."

Tiki shook her head as "Yugi" told the imposter, "Kaiba is not dead! I refuse to believe that!"

Ghost Kaiba shrugged and teased, "Believe all you want…but tell me…you lost them, didn't you? What defeated me with…Exodia."

"Yugi" froze in shock: how did he know that? Only "he," "his" friends, and Weevil knew that the Exodia cards were lost. Ghost Kaiba sneered, "How do you hope to win…against Kaiba's deck?"

"Yugi" was now getting nervous as "his" opponent's words started to seep into "his" psyche. But "he" tried to keep calm by ordering Ghost Kaiba to play his turn. Smirking darkly, Ghost Kaiba drew his card and hissed, "Now…the dead will come back from hell to reclaim his revenge against you! Prepare yourself…"

Everyone thought this was more psychological warfare until they saw the card he played: the Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000)! Now everyone knew the truth: this deck was indeed Seto Kaiba's deck! As Ghost Kaiba laughed at "Yugi's" shocked face, everyone started to consider the possibly that Kaiba really did commit suicide; with Pegasus' Millennium Eye, it seemed possible that the silver-haired American could have used his power to bring back Kaiba to eliminate "Yugi" early in the tournament. Laughing again, Ghost Kaiba declared, "Again, I know what you're thinking! 'Kaiba is really dead, isn't he?' I am right, aren't I? After all, no one can imitate Kaiba's deck…therefore, this one here is MY deck. There is the proof before you: the Blue Eye White Dragon, infused with the same hatred I took to hell and that came back with me to exact my revenge on you!"

His heart breaking, Mokuba screamed, "Stop it! Someone tell me he's lying! He's lying!"

Unfortunately, no one could answer the child because they were not sure. "Yugi" took a peek at "Tiki" and saw the look in "her" eyes. Inside her heart, Tiki was freaking out with Mokuba at the idea of Kaiba dead. Because of that, "Tiki" gave "Yugi" pleading eyes, as if asking "him" to find out the truth for Tiki's sake. Ignoring the Ghost Kaiba inviting "Yugi" to join him in hell, "Yugi" gritted "his" teeth. "He" was running out of options, especially with the Blue Eyes White Dragon out; not only that, Ghost Kaiba's words were distracting "him." "He" was grateful that Ghost Kaiba decided that it was best to not attack and let his opponent stew in "his" hopelessness. While Ghost Kaiba did play a card to be used later, there was no way to tell if it was a magic or trap card, which worried "Yugi." Wanting to consider all "his" options, "he" put the Dark Magician in defense mode (DEF 2100) and summoned Curse of Dragon (DEF 1500) to keep "his" Life Points safe. Unfortunately, that was what Ghost Kaiba was hoping for: he played the card, revealing it to be the trap card Defense Seal! Now there was nothing protecting "Yugi" Life Points from the Blue Eyes White Dragon, especially this trap was permanent. "Yugi" spirit broke a little when Blue Eyes destroyed the Curse of Dragon, reducing "Yugi's" Life Points to 1000. When the Ghost Kaiba smiled a smug/sick smile, "Yugi" started to worry that "he" might lose. "His" worries grew as Kemo teased, "This should appease Kaiba's spirit, seeing you lose like this!"

Upset but trying to be brave, Mokuba yelled, "My brother isn't dead! He isn't!" Seeing that he had "Yugi's" attention, the child demanded, "Didn't you tell me that my brother would come back?! I…I believed you…I still do…I'll wait for Seto forever!"

Everyone's hearts went out to the young Kaiba, especially when Mokuba started to cry. Shaking off the mental cobwebs, "Yugi" looked at "his" opponent and decided to believe "his" original view: Kaiba was alive out there and this Ghost Kaiba was an imposter using Kaiba's stolen deck. Because of that, "he" would not lose this duel. As if deciding to hold onto the same faith, the deck gave "Yugi" a card that would buy "him" some time: Magical Silk Hats. With four hats on the field, the Dark Magician hid in one of them. Now there was a 75% chance that "Yugi" would survive this turn; "Yugi" just hoped that luck was on "his" side. Seeing Ghost Kaiba study the hats, "Yugi" decided to turn the tables on "his" opponent: "Well? If all you really want is vengeance and my death, attack without hesitation!"

Joey grinned. "All right, Yugi!"

"Tiki" gave "Yugi" a proud smile and two thumbs-up as Merina nodded. "Not only does he have a chance to escape, he's giving that bastard a taste of his own medicine!"

Unamused by "Yugi" poking his psyche, Ghost Kaiba hissed, "This is foolish…just a way to buy time…"

Having enough, "Yugi" growled, "Say whatever you want; just attack!"

Ghost Kaiba knew that there was a one-in-four chance he would hit the Dark Magician. Because he had no way to find the Dark Magician directly, he had no choice but to destroy each hat one by one. Making a decision, he told the White Dragon to attack the farthest right hat. Everyone held their breath, hoping it was a miss. To Ghost Kaiba's disappointment and "Yugi" and "his" friends' delight, the hat was empty. Pleased that "he" managed to survive, "Yugi" drew a card and found it was a card that could be used to take down the Blue Eyes. But "he" played it in a way that worked against Ghost Kaiba. Seeing Ghost Kaiba worried, "Yugi" teased, "There silk hats left…if you hit my Dark Magician, you'll make my Life Points decrease. But keep in mind: another silk hat hides a trap card. Now…take your turn!"

Joey wondered, "What is Yugi planning?"

Tea asked, "Is it wise that Yugi gave away his strategy?"

"Tiki" nodded as Merina explained, "Absolutely. While there is a one-in-three chance that bastard will hit the Dark Magician, there's also a one-in-three chance he'll hit the trap card. More pressure to get it right."

Looking at the three hats, Ghost Kaiba told his dragon to attack the middle hat, hoping that he got it right. But he paled at "Yugi's" smirk. "Wrong…for you, that is. Trap card activate!"

Ghost Kaiba could not believe he attacked the hat with the trap card, especially since the trap was the Hexagram Spell. Activating, the seal engulfed the White Dragon and lowered its ATK to 2300. Off "Yugi's" orders, the Dark Magician came out of the right silk hat and destroyed the weakened Blue Eyes, reducing Ghost Kaiba's Life Points to 500. Everyone cheered for "Yugi's" victory but their celebrations were cut short by Ghost Kaiba summoning a second Blue Eyes White Dragon, one that destroyed the Dark Magician immediately! Now with 500 Life Points as well, "Yugi" kicked "himself" for forgetting something so crucial, a fact that made Ghost Kaiba laugh. "There are three Blue Eyes White Dragons in my deck! How could you forgotten that? If I wasn't drunk with the need for revenge, I would be hurt."

Faced with that fact, "Yugi" started to wonder if Kaiba really was dead. "Tiki" looked at "Yugi" and hoped that "he" would not get distracted again, especially when Ghost Kaiba teased, "You're not afraid of the Blue Eyes…you're afraid of me and my undead spirit! Why else would you make such a pathetic mistake? Now…your turn."

Seeing "Yugi" starting to doubt again, Mokuba almost screamed, "Yugi, that's not true! My brother is alive somewhere! I know it!"

While "his" doubts were taken away from the child's words, "Yugi" was still worried about the duel. The cards in "his" hand were not capable of defeating a full-powered Blue Eyes White Dragon. Seeing the look on "Yugi's" face, Ghost Kaiba sneered, "Have you finally realized? Just play a monster for my Blue Eyes to destroy so we can finish this duel once and for all."

Looking again at "his" hand, "Yugi" knew that "he" was out of options, especially with the Defense Seal still on the field. Silently apologizing to Mokuba, "Yugi" played the Feral Imp (ATK 1300). Laughing with pride, Ghost Kaiba sneered, "Finally, my thirst for revenge shall be quenched!"

Tristan cursed, "Isn't there anything we can do?"

Merina growled, "No…damn it!"

Relishing in his victory, Ghost Kaiba growled, "Blue Eyes White Dragon…attack!"

"Yugi" and "his" friends braced themselves for the attack. But something happened that no one expected: the dragon did not attack. In fact, it started to shine with light and flicker. Ghost Kaiba and "Yugi" did not understand what was going on until they looked at their boards and noticed that the White Dragon's ATK points were decreasing rabidly. As the image of the dragon continued to flicker and melt, everyone tried to make sense with what was going on. All of a sudden, the ATK points of the dragon stopped at 2000; while it was lower, it was still higher than the Feral Imp's and it would still mean "Yugi" defeat. To everyone's horror, the sick White Dragon attacked off Ghost Kaiba's order. Everyone felt their hopes dashed: even if "Yugi" was given this unusual miracle, "he" was still going to be defeated. As the attack headed towards the Feral Imp, time seemed to slow down as "Yugi" quietly apologized to the Kaiba brothers. Just then, "he" heard a voice call out "his" name. It was not one of "his" friends nor was it Mokuba; in fact, the voice sounded like it was reaching out to "him" from a faraway place and it was a voice "he" knew very well: "Kaiba…?"


	4. Return of Honor

Chapter 4

Return of Honor

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

At Kaiba Manor, suits were posted outside the gates. They were not sure why they were given this assignment, especially since Kaiba was dead. The best theory they had was that they were there to stop KaibaCorp employees who were still loyal to the teenaged CEO. Little did they know that they were about to fail in their duty, for someone was hiding behind a nearby tree. The person was none other than Seto Kaiba himself! When he jumped out of the window to escape the two suits, he managed to grab onto the cliff-side at the last moment. Staring at the suits and gate, he took a moment to look over the situation. While he was strong enough and quick enough to take down one suit, he knew he could not take on two. Insulted by the very idea of sneaking into his own house, he moved around out of sight to the back wall.

To his relief, there were no suits guarding the back wall. Scaling it quickly, he quietly ran into the backyard to an open area. Reaching into the grass, he quickly found what he was looking for: a metal triangle at the end of a long chain. As he pulled the chain to open a secret door, he briefly thought about Mokuba calling this room a hideaway from the upcoming zombie apocalypse. He almost chuckled at his brother's imagination but he kept a straight face: he had more important things to do. After getting in and closing the door behind him, he made his way down the hall until he reached a locked door. Because he was groomed to always be ready for anything, he had the key with him. As he stepped in, he looked at the small library of books and once again thought about Mokuba complaining that books would do nothing against zombies. But Kaiba knew the truth: he had told Mokuba that the books would help rebuild civilization (a fact Mokuba could not argue with) and these shelves held something even more available than books.

His eyes zeroing in on a specific book, he pulled the top forward, activating the wall unit in front of him: the bookshelf moved to the side, revealing a hidden door behind it. Accessing it with a retinal scan, Kaiba looked at his hidden control room. He never thought he would use it but he was glad that the room was still under his control. Sitting in the center chair, he turned on the computer and put on his headset-and-microphone. Soon a computerized female voice spoke into his earpiece. _Voice verification. Your name is…?_

Kaiba stated his name and felt another relief when the computer granted him access. _Verification complete. It's been a while, Master Seto._

Smirking softly at his computer's "personality," Kaiba got down to business. "What has happened while I was away?"

_As soon as you left, a board meeting happened…_

Already alarmed, Kaiba demanded, "What was the purpose?"

Using charts and pictures to further illustrate the update, the computer continued. _50% of the company that belong to the Big 5 will be transferred to Pegasus' company Industrial Illusions under one condition. In response, Pegasus has organized a tournament, the Duelist Kingdom, and invited Mutou Yugi to participate. If Mutou Yugi is defeated, the transfer will be complete._

Kaiba scoffed and glared at the picture of Pegasus. "Damn him…intending to take over Kaiba Corporation…but that is impossible: Yugi has Exodia."

Having a flashback to his devastating loss, the brunette gritted his teeth in anger. Because his time away had been cut short, his loss still had a fresh sting to it. But his anger was broken by what the computer said next: _According to the database, Mutou Yugi no longer has the Exodia cards._

Kaiba was shocked. How could Yugi lose the most powerful monster in Duel Monsters? He wanted to demand his computer to find the cards but he calmed himself, reminding himself that he had something more important to deal with now. Hearing the computer ask if its master had any more questions, the brunette demanded, "Where is Mokuba?"

Once again using pictures, the computer explained, _It has been revealed that Kaiba Mokuba was invited to Duelist Kingdom to be Pegasus' special guest._

Kaiba felt the blood drain from his face. The last thing Kaiba gave his little brother was the key to KaibaCorp's secret files room. That had to be the real reason Pegasus "invited" Mokuba to Duelist Kingdom, especially with the silver-haired American wanting complete control of the company. As if sensing its creator's glare, the computer asked, _What should we do?_

Kaiba thought things over for a moment. He wanted first to rescue Mokuba but, at his current position, he had to first focus on keeping Pegasus from taking over his company. The CEO took comfort in knowing that Mokuba was a resourceful boy and that he now knew where his little brother was. He did know that part of the burden of keeping Pegasus' hands off KaibaCorp was on Yugi's shoulders. He firmly told his computer, "We don't have much time; Pegasus and his men will soon find out that I'm here. So I'm counting on you!" When the computer accepted, Kaiba continued, "First, use the network to find battle places. Your target: Duelist Kingdom!"

The computer went to work searching for Duelist Kingdom. Because of how powerful it was, the search took only a few minutes. _Searching complete. Duelist Kingdom located and targeted._

Studying Duelist Kingdom's layout, Kaiba asked, "Which duel rings are being used?"

The computer answered, _There are twelve duel rings throughout the island._

Knowing how active a tournament of this scale was and how good of a duelist Yugi was, Kaiba knew he had a one in twelve chance of finding him. With that in mind, he told the computer to look for Yugi Mutou and watched as the computer went to work. But both were shocked when the red words "Not Accessed" appeared across the screen. After Kaiba's angry outburst at being locked out, the computer seemed to decide to explain what the words really meant. _The data surrounding Mutou Yugi's duel is confidential._

At first shocked, Kaiba then scoffed with a smirk. "I see. Pegasus, you bastard…you planned this far ahead. You want to keep something in Yugi's duel data a secret?"

Being a computer, it was unable to see past that the data was confidential and asked, _What's next?_

Accepting this denial of access as a challenge, Kaiba smugly stated, "Very well, I'll find Yugi! Computer, this time, we're going to force our way in!"

Inclined to obey its creator, the computer asked, _The method?_

This time, Kaiba did not answer verbally; instead, he started to type in a lot of codes. As pictures started to appear on the screen, Kaiba talked to himself and the computer. "Duels on the island have their data transferred to the Illusion Satellite and then recorded to the Industrial Illusions' main computer, the Millennium Server. If we use this method and enter the Millennium System, we will be able to find Yugi's data in the records."

Exploring all the options hacking would give them, the computer pointed out, _Their security system will not let anything in._

Kaiba knew that hacking into a large corporation's database was risky but he knew this was the best chance. "The system runs off of a virtual system, a virtual system that I designed." Smirking, he pointed out, "What kind of man would I be if I wasn't able to work in the very virtual world I created?"

Despite being given this information, the computer was not sure how to do this. _You cannot do a search without information._

Almost laughing at his computer "challenging" him, Kaiba stated that he could do a search because he knew what to look for. "If Yugi is dueling at this moment, there is a very high probability that there will be a Dark Magician on the battle field. Here are your instructions: search for a Dark Magician."

Now having all the information it needed, the computer went to work. First, it linked the searching program and the Dark Magician's data together. Then, off Kaiba's orders, it hacked into the Illusion Satellite 2 and had the satellite beam them to Industrial Illusion as if they were pieces of information from a duel. Pleased that their hacking had not been discovered, Kaiba ordered the computer to fully hack into Millennium. The computer accepted its orders and went to work. Thanks to how they hacked the satellite, they were able to hack into the Millennium System without any problems. Now in, Kaiba and the computer started to look through the dueling arenas for Dark Magician.

As the search went on, however, Kaiba became more and more frustrated. Two arenas were not even being used, almost making Kaiba critique the duelists for not taking the tournament seriously. Three duel arenas were finishing the duels and two were starting. The other four arenas were in the middle of the duels and Kaiba had to stop himself because, every time he would see one in progress, he would see the cards in play and figure out different methods for either player to gain victory. But what frustrated him the most was that none of the active arenas had the Dark Magician. After minutes of fruitless searches, the brunette started to wonder if Yugi was either in an earlier duel and did not have the Dark Magician in play yet or was even dueling. "How many arenas left?"

As the screen showed them leaving one room and going down a hall to another, the computer explained, _There is one remaining: Room 146._

Relieved that they made it to the last arena, Kaiba's relief turned into frustration when he saw the screen under 146 was blank, which meant it was not being used. But there was something that made him think there was something amiss. "No…that's not it. Enter Room 146!"

The computer headed straight for the door and froze when it got close enough. Shocked, Kaiba demanded, "What the hell happened?!"

Just as "shocked" as its creator, the computer claimed, _It froze!_

Now Kaiba was suspicious. If there was really no one using this arena, why would his computer freeze before getting close to the door? He ordered the computer to reboot and the computer obeyed, returning to normal seconds later. Hoping the reboot would be enough, Kaiba ordered his computer to re-access Room 146, only to have it freeze again. This time, however, the computer was able to explain that the reason for the freezing was unknown. Because of that, Kaiba developed a theory and inputted a few codes to confirm. As he suspected, there was an error message that came up with the Dark Magician. "The freeze is nothing more than a camouflage, a response to something that's happening inside. That could only mean one thing: there's a Dark Magician on the field in Arena 146. There's no doubt now: Yugi's in there!"

Because a direct entrance was no longer an option, the computer asked, _What method will you use?_

Now that he found what he was looking for, Kaiba was not about to give up, especially when the thing that was keeping him from what he needed was a "door." "Explode the door with the key-hole destruction program!"

Accepting the order, the computer initiated the program. On the screen, three sticks of TNT appeared and exploded, ripping open the door. But what was on the other side was a sight that Kaiba did not expect: it was a castle-like prison floating over a large body of water. Hearing its creator's confusion, the computer explained, _That building is the materialized form of stored memory._ Zooming in on the iron door, the computer determined, _In fact, Mutou Yugi's duel data is stored inside. However, the only way to enter it is with the correct password._

Taking a look at the door, Kaiba realized that the password would have to be figured out without hints or clues. But he then smirked, realizing that the hint was the prison itself: it looked like a historical landmark near the Industrial Illusions headquarters. "A place like a prison where you can't leave once you entered? It's a nice attempt at a joke, Pegasus, but it won't work on me! Get inside now!"

Being a computer, it was not used to visual clues so it asked, _The password?_

His smirking widening, Kaiba said a single word: "Alcatraz!"

The computer inputted the word and, to Kaiba's smugness, the door opened. As the computer started to enter the building, Kaiba said to himself, "Now the real battle begins…Pegasus, I will show you my true power! Let the battle begin!"

His smugness was cut short, however, by the computer announcing, _The security system was frozen. The control room's alarm has been set off. Virtual system has been unlocked. From now on, our access mode can be detected by outside forces._

Knowing he had a more limited time than before, Kaiba brushed it off and ordered the computer to do the same. Obeying, the computer continued to enter the castle-like prison and announced, _Successful entrance to Arena 146!_ _Duel data for Mutou Yugi has been found!_

Pleased that his theory was correct, Kaiba ordered the computer to show him what was going on in the duel; he wanted to know why Yugi's data was almost impossible to access. Once the image appeared, Kaiba studied it intently. One side had the magic card Magical Silk Hats. The other side, however, made the brunette feel physically ill: it had the trap card Defense Seal and the Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000)! Furious that someone was using his deck, he demanded, "Who is dueling Yugi?"

Looking at the information, the computer displayed it and explained, _The name that is displayed is "Kaiba Seto;" his true identity is unknown._

Kaiba's blood started to boil. Not only did they have the nerve to use his own deck, they were impersonating him for a duel. After he cursed Pegasus, he calmed himself and asked, "What is the current situation of the duel?"

Looking through the duel's data, the computer explained, _Currently on the field is the second Blue Eyes White Dragon. The first was defeated by a combo attack from the Dark Magician and Magical Silk Hats._

Smirking, Kaiba said to himself, "Defeating a Blue-Eyes without the use of Exodia…as expected from Yugi…but he has no way to win now."

Going through more data, the computer agreed. _He currently has no cards capable of defeating the second one._

Getting what his computer was hinting at, Kaiba knew this was a desperate situation. He knew that a regular duelist would have simply given up but he knew that Yugi was like him, never giving up even in the face of defeat. His mind worked quickly to find a solution. Looking at the screen, he was hit with inspiration. "There's still a way: we'll decrease the second Blue-Eyes' attack points. We can't do anything to the card itself because he already played it. But, if we infect the image with a virus, there is a chance its attack should decrease."

Understanding what Kaiba was talking about, the computer first asked for how strong the virus should be. When Kaiba ordered it to set the level at maximum, it went to work on infecting the Blue-Eyes' visual image. When the virus was a third done, however, the computer revealed that Yugi played Feral Imp (ATK 1300), leaving an open target for the Blue-Eyes thanks to Defense Seal. Kaiba started to grow impatient as the computer reported, _Virus infection at 50%; the Blue-Eyes does not appear to be affected._

As the infection continued to spread and its attack points stayed the same, Kaiba tensed up and held his breath, hoping that the imposter would not attack. Finally, when the infection reached 95%, the dragon's attack points started to slowly decrease. Relieved that nothing interfered with this plan, Kaiba tried to order the computer to reduce the points faster. Deep down, however, he knew that the points were decreasing as fast as it could; still, he wanted things to be faster because, even weakened, the dragon could still attack and defeat Yugi. As soon as the computer confirmed that the virus infection had reached 100% and that the decreasing points were at 2300, he stated, "Prepare to attack the third one."

This time, Kaiba was not willing to wait for the third dragon to even be summoned; he had to make sure this dragon was weakened while it still slept in the deck. The computer was about to start when suddenly the screens broke up in distortion. Surprised, Kaiba demanded, "What happened?!"

Looking for information, the computer revealed, _It froze. Attack's reduction has also stopped. Unknown reason._

Kaiba was about to demand that the computer find out what happened when he got his answer. A cartoon pink rabbit wearing red overalls and yellow shoes walked to the middle of the screen and started to dance, annoyingly chanting "Hello, Kaiba!" over and over again. As more of the rabbit popped up on his screen, Kaiba recognized the rabbit as the favorite comic character of a certain American he knew: "Pegasus!"

He grew pale as the chants continued, realizing that he had been found and his limited time became even more limited. When the computer restored itself, it pointed out, _The reduction of the Blue-Eyes' attack has stopped at 2000._

Kaiba cursed his luck. Had Pegasus not interfered, the CEO's plan would have succeeded. He then froze at what the computer voice and screen had revealed: the dragon was attacking! Even with the attack reduced, the dragon was still powerful enough to wipe out the Feral Imp and the rest of Yugi's Life Points. Kaiba gritted his teeth until they hurt. He was facing another defeat, especially when it was given to him and Yugi by an imposter using his name. Slamming his fists on the computer, he cried out, "Yugi…!"

* * *

As the attack headed towards the Feral Imp, time seemed to slow down as "Yugi" quietly apologized to the Kaiba brothers. Just then, "he" heard a voice call out "his" name. It was not one of "his" friends nor was it Mokuba; in fact, the voice sounded like it was reaching out to "him" from a faraway place and it was a voice "he" knew very well: "Kaiba…?"

Suddenly, the attack stopped, leaving the Feral Imp unharmed. Confused by what happened, "Yugi" looked up and could not believe what "he" was seeing: the Blue Eyes White Dragon was weakly crying out and disintegrating into nothing at a faster rate. When the dragon disappeared, Ghost Kaiba was on the urge of a breakdown. He thought he had the victory even with the unusual drop in attack points. "Impossible…"

The gang was just as surprised. Joey asked, "What…the hell just happened?"

No one had an explanation.

* * *

Kaiba was in a state of disbelief as well as the computer explained, _Blue-Eyes White Dragon's destruction has been confirmed._

Kaiba wondered if the virus worked on a delayed affect. "Can you explain how it happened?"

To Kaiba's surprise, the computer admitted, _I cannot; unknown reason._

Hearing that, Kaiba started to go through different ideas of what could have done it. But the solution he came to was one that he was not used to, the revelation he had back at his hideaway: "Could it be what Yugi was talking about…the heart of the cards?"

Before he could explore that option further, he heard his door's locking system reacting to someone activating the bookshelf door. Realizing he had been found, he quickly sprang into action…

* * *

Still in disbelief, Ghost Kaiba demanded, "Why…why?!"

"Yugi" glared at the imposter and proclaimed, "Kaiba Seto is still alive."

Keeping up the charade, Ghost Kaiba yelled, "Shut up! I am dead!"

This time, the imposter's words were not going to affect "Yugi." "Silence! Kaiba Seto is out there and he is alive!"

Hearing that, Mokuba's hopes were restored. "Yes! You did it, Big Brother!"

Still confused, Tea asked, "What's going on?"

Mokuba chirped in. "Only my brother can destroy a Blue-Eyes like that! Yes…my brother did that! He's still alive!"

Hearing that inside her heart, Tiki felt overjoyed with the news that Kaiba was still alive. But she paused and wondered: if it was one of her friends who was suspected to be dead, would she still react this strongly? The answer she realized was that she would not. She now understood: this was why she wanted to find out more about him, get close to him, and why she wanted to unlock the secret behind his cold, distant blue eyes. She was not just starting to care for him; she was falling for him. While she was pleasantly surprised, she was also confused because, while she believed there was something behind his cold eyes, she also knew he was closed off and quite cruel when he wanted to be. While she wrestled with her new feelings, "Yugi" glared at the panicking imposter and proclaimed, "Now that it's proven that Kaiba is alive, I can now fully concentrate on the duel. But first, show your true identity! I won't allow you to fool me nor disgrace the name of Kaiba Seto anymore!"

At first, Ghost Kaiba continued the façade that he was Seto Kaiba's spirit but the façade quickly dropped away by the disguise blowing up to reveal a huge, creepy-looking man. Laughing at "Yugi" recoiling in fright, the man sneered, "Ah…this form is so much more comfortable. Allow me to properly introduce myself: I am the Imitator of the Dead, sent by Industrial Illusions. Now that that's out of the way, let's have some more fun playing, Yugi."

While he was a little creeped out by the Death Imitator, Mokuba was not too fazed since he knew his brother was not dead. The gang, however, was disgusted by the sight of the man. Shaking it off, Joey told "Yugi," "Yugi, you don't have to hesitate anymore!"

Merina nodded, trying to ignore the shiver in her spine. "Joey's right! Finish this guy off for disgracing Kaiba like that!"

Mokuba added, "No one can use my brother's card like that! Serves you right!"

Listening to "his" friends' and Mokuba cheer "him" on, "Yugi" got back to business. "You currently have no monsters in play so hurry up and play a monster!"

Despite having lost the psychological edge over "Yugi," the Death Imitator knew that he still had the third Blue-Eyes somewhere in the deck. The trick was finding it; he was glad that, this time, "Yugi" was not going to have a similar miracle like "he" did last time. Drawing the top card, he put Grappler (DEF 1200) on the field, determined to buy time until he found the dragon. Looking at Grappler, "Yugi" figured out the Death Imitator's plan immediately. "He" knew "he" was still forbidden by play monsters in defense mode and the moment "his" opponent drew the Blue-Eyes would be instant death for "him." Hoping this would work, "he" put a card face down and summoned Celtic Guardian (ATK 1400). Seeing its opponent, the Celtic Warrior cut Grappler in half, removing the Death Imitator's defense. Unfazed, the Death Imitator sarcastically congratulated "Yugi" and summoned Mystic Horseman (DEF 1550) with a face down card as well. Curious about whether the face-down card was magic or trap, "Yugi" thought up a few counter measures: add another face down card and summon the Mystical Elf (ATK 800) with the magic card Writing of Secret Arts to raise her ATK points to 1100. Ignoring the Elf's chants, the Death Imitator sneered, "No matter what you did, it's useless." Then, to try and creep Yugi" out even further, the Death Imitator changed his head and voice to resemble Pegasus as he teased, "Stop wasting our time with these foolish things!"

To his dismay, "Yugi" was unfazed by the transformation so the Death Imitator considered what was in front of him: "Yugi" had two face down cards and three monsters. Since the Mystical Elf was the weakest monster in play, he assumed "Yugi" rose her attack points so she could attack if need be. However, he knew that Mystical Elf would still deal "Yugi" the biggest defeat when he drew the last Blue-Eyes. Looking at the stand-off in the arena, Joey wondered, "So many face-down cards…who has the biggest trump card?"

Merina muttered that it depended on when the Death Imitator would summon the third Blue-Eyes. Despite hearing that, Tea kept her faith in "Yugi." But all their hopes were all but dashed when the Death Imitator drew a card and celebrated, summoning the third and final Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000)! Seeing the friends worrying, Mokuba reminded them, "Don't worry! Seto will do something about this like he did last time!"

Hearing that, Kemo laughed. "You idiot! Do you really think that will happen again?! Look again. If Kaiba was really going to do something to this one, why does it look as powerful as ever? So you see…Kaiba can't help you anymore!"

Kemo was speaking the truth, as Kaiba managed to escape through a trap door before suits could breach the control room. While Mokuba was still relieved that he did not lose his brother, he knew that, without his brother's help, "Yugi" could still lose the duel and, in turn, KaibaCorp to Pegasus. Laughing, the Death Imitator gleefully said, "What a feeling! Blue-Eyes, destroy the Mystical Elf!"

The Dragon started to attack but "Yugi" was already prepared, activating the trap card Mirror Force and sending the attack back. The Death Imitator acted like he was panicked until he revealed that the card he set was Negate Attack, nullifying the lightning attack. "Yugi" could not believe that "his" trap did not work, especially when the Death Imitator sneered, "So pathetic; I saw everything ahead of time. So now what, Yugi?"

Everyone started to worry that "Yugi" was done for until they heard "Yugi" laugh. "I still have a trump!"

No one could think of what kind of trump card "he" was talking about until "he" revealed the other face-down card: Monster Reborn! Like when his cover was blown, the Death Imitator started to panic. "No! You can't be planning to revive my Blue-Eyes?!"

Smirking with pride, "Yugi" corrected the Death Imitator. "No…I plan to revive Kaiba's card!"

With that, "he" summoned one of the fallen Blue Eyes White Dragons (ATK 3000). At first worried, the Death Imitator recovered when he remembered, "That almost got me. But they have the same power."

Because of that, the Death Imitator knew that, if the dragon attacked the other, they would just destroy each other without damaging Life Points. His smirk widening, "Yugi" agreed, "True, it would have been impossible. But the Mystical Elf has been chanting a spell since she was summoned. The spell will allow her to transfer for Attack Points to another monster in the field."

Panicking again, the Death Imitator could do nothing to stop the Mystical Elf from transferring her Attack Points to the Blue-Eyes, raising its Attack Points to 4100. Twisting the knife, "Yugi" proclaimed, "True, Blue-Eyes' attack is nearly invincible. But Attack Points are not definitive; it all depends on the situation of the battle! That is the lesson Kaiba gave me!" Ignoring the Death Imitator's pleas, "Yugi" yelled, "Prepare yourself for Kaiba's anger!"

Responding to "Yugi's" words and the meaning behind them, the powered-up Blue-Eyes attacked the Death Imitator's Blue-Eyes, destroying it and the rest of the Death Imitator's Life Points. While that would have been enough for the average duelist, "Yugi" was not appeased so, while everyone was blinded by the dragon's attack, the Eye of Horus appeared on "his" forehead as "he" growled, "You stole Kaiba's deck, slandered his name, and defiled his heart! I will never forgive you for such crimes!"

Using a more powerful version of the Mind Crush "he" gave Kaiba, "he" erased the very existence of the Death Imitator, as if the man had never been born. Going in a trance thanks to the power "he" used, "he" sent a message to Pegasus, a message "he" knew the silver-haired American would get thanks to the Millennium Eye. _Pegasus…hear my words! My voice is filled with anger! You hired a fake to defile the name of Kaiba Seto! I will never forgive you for that! Be prepared; I am coming for you!_

When the light faded and "Yugi" woke up, "he" went to the red platform and recovered Kaiba's deck. Joey cheered for his friend's victory and Tristan sighed with relief. "Damn…for a moment, I thought he was done for."

"Tiki" smiled as Merina chuckled. "He almost was, Tristan. Don't kid yourself."

Joey gave his American friend a look. "Way to keep the faith, Merina."

Merina playfully rolled her eyes and was about to retort when Tea noticed, "Mokuba's gone!"

Shocked, everyone looked around to see that Tea was right: Mokuba and Kemo were gone! Despite "Yugi" winning, Kemo knew that Yugi could still lose against Pegasus himself so he took Mokuba back to the castle while everyone was blinded.

_The gang spent an hour looking for Mokuba. When they were unable to find him, they realized that there was only one way to get the child back: they had to make their way up to the castle and defeat Pegasus._ _Now Yugi had another reason to go after Pegasus._


	5. Reactions

Chapter 5

Reactions

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

Having used the secret tunnel that attached his control room to his air strip, Kaiba secretly hijacked one of his helicopters and started to fly to Duelist Kingdom. While focusing on the flying, his mind was fixated on Yugi's dueling skills. He knew his rival's style was one of a kind; he saw it himself in his first duel with "Yugi" and in "his" speech at the end where "he" spoke of the heart of the cards. However, the heart in the cards was a foreign concept to the CEO so he made a decision: 'I want to battle him again.'

Looking at his briefcase, he thought about the duel disk that he was developing. While he wanted to have his duel with Yugi right away, he knew there was someone he needed to test the duel disc against first. He could not forgive neither Pegasus nor the Big Five for trying to take control of Kaiba Corporation. Even though he wanted to go after the Big Five first, he knew they were holding back their moves until the end of Duelist Kingdom; because of that and because he kidnapped Mokuba, Pegasus was Kaiba's first target. His eyes narrowing, Kaiba felt his determination to defeat Pegasus with his own two hands grow stronger. He just hoped that Mokuba was all right.

* * *

_After the duel with the Death Imitator, the day started to wind down. Joey had another match against Rex Raptor, __acting on Mai's behalf. Determined to win on his own, Joey asked Yugi for no advice and Yugi agreed. To everyone's surprise, he defeated the region's number two duelist and, thanks to a wager Rex threw in, gained the Red Eyes Black Dragon (ATK 2400). As night fell, the gang thought they would have a relaxing evening, especially when Mai joined them with provisions, but the life of a duelist is rarely relaxing. After Mai left and Merina went to check on her, the gang was found by Ryou and Rose Bakura. At first pleasantly surprised, their joy ended w__hen Ryou and Rose revealed they were possessed by evil spirits who were out to get Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. Using everyone's souls as ransom, "Ryou" and "Rose" battled "Yugi" for the Millennium Puzzle with "Yugi" prevailing. After one more duel with "Yugi" battling a duelist killer to get Mai's star chips back, everyone settled in for the night._

With the moon slowly climbing, Ryou and Yugi were sitting away from the camp while everyone slept, Joey and Tristan sleeping outside to give the girls some privacy; Mai and Merina were talking privately in the woods. All but one girl were sleeping peacefully; Tiki was too preoccupied to sleep. After the duel with the death imitator and her realization she had feelings for Kaiba, she could feel her mind and heart trying to work out the puzzle. She knew her heart was very fond of Kaiba but she also knew that he was a very cold person, never letting anyone in. She knew she did not have feeling for him because of his money or because she felt the need to fix him. But she did not know the real reason behind her heart's choice. Removing a strand of hair from her nose, Rose woke up and noticed Tiki was awake. Worried, she reached over and touched her sister's arm, getting her attention. "Hey…what's on your mind?"

Tiki looked at Rose before looking away. "Nothing…"

Rose rolled over on her side and gave the brunette a look. "You're a terrible liar; that much has not changed. So tell me the truth: what's wrong?"

Tiki sighed and smiled softly. Even after so many years apart, her sister still knew the brunette very well. Tiki also knew Rose would not rest until she helped Tiki out so the smaller girl rolled over to look Rose in the eyes. "I'm confused." Seeing that she had Rose's attention, the brunette continued. "Well…keep in mind, this is all hypothetical."

Rose almost laughed, knowing most "hypothetical" situations were true ones. But she nodded. "All right."

Taking a deep breath, Tiki laid on her back and said, "Hypothetically…say there's a person that I've fallen for but his character is…well…how do I put this?" She paused for a moment before continuing, "He carries himself very…high…and doesn't seem to care what others think of him…even when he does things…not so nice."

Rose laid back on her back and teased, "Sounds like a real charmer."

Tiki blushed a little. She knew Kaiba was not exactly a prince; even hearing her description of him out loud made her doubt her feelings. But she then remembered, "Still…again, hypothetically…I believe there's a reason for why he acts the way he does. There's…something in his eyes that tells me otherwise. So what should I do?" She then quickly added, "Again, all hypothetical!"

Rose almost laughed again at how adamant Tiki was that this was a "hypothetical" situation. She wanted to ask who the guy was but figured her little sister would continue to act like it was an imaginary situation. Because of that, she decided to answer honestly. "Well…if I were you and in this 'hypothetical' situation…" she gave her sister a look, "…I'd follow my heart. Though this guy may be a jerk, you should look underneath his habits; after all, there might be something there that makes him act this way. Just, you know…watch him and get to know him a bit more. Once you do that, then you should approach him and try to talk to him."

Tiki thought about that and decided her sister was right. The day they were assigned to work on a paper together, he seemed so closed off and she wanted to respect his privacy. But her heart was telling her there was more to him than what was on the surface. She thanked Rose and was about to roll over to sleep when Rose said, "Not so fast. What's his name?"

Tiki looked at Rose, embarrassed that she was caught. "Rose, I told you! It's all a hypothetical situation!"

Rose rolled over on her side and gave Tiki a look. "Oh, really? You know the rules: when someone talks about a hypothetical situation with such details, it's a real one. So tell me: what's his name?"

Tiki sat up, acting like she was about to leave for some fresh air, when a loud noise pierced the air and the wind kicked up violently. Before either sister could react, the noises got louder, waking everyone at the camp. The sisters and Tea peeked out of the tent and immediately discovered the source of the noise: a helicopter. Confused by the appearance, everyone huddled together as the helicopter landed and started to power down. Once the helicopter was fully off, the pilot stepped out and revealed himself to the shocked group as Seto Kaiba! Tiki felt her eyes widen and her heart flutter. While she was very relieved he was alive and well, she did not understand why he was here on the island. But then her mind flashed to Mokuba and wondered if the boy was the reason. Just as relieved, Yugi stepped forward with a small smile on his face. Looking down at his rival, Kaiba tried not to grimace too obviously: he was not thrilled to see the group but he wanted to be polite, especially after "Yugi's" duel with the Ghost Kaiba earlier that day. "It's been a while."

Yugi nodded in agreement. He was about to ask how Kaiba was feeling when he suddenly remembered. Rummaging around his jacket for a while, he found Kaiba's deck and held it out to the young CEO. "Here you go. I've kept it safe for you."

Kaiba took the deck and took a moment to feel the deck in his hand. Now he felt complete as a duelist. "You have my thanks, Yugi…for now."

With that, Kaiba started to leave. Seeing this, Tiki sighed. Despite her hopes, the man she had fallen for had not changed in the slightest. Seeing how the small brunette was acting, Rose looked back and forth between her and Kaiba and put the pieces together. Because she only saw the surface of Kaiba, she believed that he was a jerk just because and, therefore, started to regret the words of advice she gave her little sister. Just as she was about to pull Tiki away to try and convince her to stay away from Kaiba, Yugi called out, "Kaiba, you do understand the heart of the cards now, right?"

Yugi and his friends expected Kaiba to either continue walking or give a snide remark. Instead, the CEO paused for a moment. He remained still until Yugi asked him what was wrong. Taking a deep breath, Kaiba admitted, "Right now, I don't have an answer…not until I can protect Mokuba and KaibaCorp…" he turned to Yugi to finish his answer, "…and I'll do that by defeating Pegasus…by any means necessary, if need be."

As disappointed as he was, Yugi had to admit he was not that surprised Kaiba answered that way. As Kaiba continued to walk, no one stopped him, even though Tiki wanted to. She continued to cling to hope that she would see a change in him. With that hope, she took a step forward to go to him. Rose was about to grab her sister's shoulder when Joey ran forward and grabbed Kaiba's collar, getting in the brunette's face. "Listen up, you! Everyone in Duelist Kingdom has to get star chips if we want a shot at Pegasus! Don't think you can just go after him just because he has your brother! You're no different than any of us! I won't forgive you if you try and step over us!"

Kaiba stared at Joey as the blond ranted, the CEO's steely blue eyes getting colder by the second. As soon as Joey stopped talking, Kaiba quietly grabbed Joey's right hand in a tight grip, as if warning the blond that the brunette could easily break Joey's hand if he wanted. Removing the blonde's hand from his coat, Kaiba tossed Joey to the ground, all the while not saying a word nor even turning around. Everyone was shocked that Kaiba did this: it was no secret Kaiba did not like any of them but Kaiba had never stooped so low as to attack them. As Yugi went to check on Joey, Rose hissed, "You bastard!"

Kaiba's move continued to make Tiki's feelings baffle both Rose and Tiki herself. Finally turning around to warn Joey to never touch him again, Kaiba noticed the duelist's glove on the blonde's hand. "Joey, you mean to say that you are one of the tournament's participants?"

Despite knowing Kaiba was a high ranked duelist, Joey was not about to let Kaiba walk all over his talents just because he was not as skilled. "Don't underestimate me, you bastard! I may not look like it but I was in the best eight in a tournament!"

Mentally comparing Kaiba and Joey's ranks, Tea could not help but say, "That was the Regional Championship Tournament, right?"

Joey was about to bark at Tea for saying that when Kaiba twisted the knife even more: "If someone as pathetic as you are a duelist here, this island's level must be the lowest I've ever seen."

Growling angrily, Joey stood up, as if ready to fight, only to be distracted by Tristan telling him to stop. Having had his amusement, Kaiba turned and continued to walk towards the woods. But he was stopped once again by Joey, who was not going to take Kaiba's words. "Wait just a second, Kaiba! I'm not the same guy you knew in school!"

Wanting to come to his friend's aid, Yugi said, "That's true! He defeated Mai Valentine and Rex Raptor!"

This time, Kaiba turned around with a look of intrigue in his eyes. He knew the two duelists and their ranking. How could a rookie like Joey defeat them? Before Rose could stop her, Tiki added, "Despite what you think, he's not as pathetic as you think he is!"

Rose quickly covered her mouth, suspecting that Tiki was both telling Kaiba that and telling Rose that her feelings towards Kaiba were justified. Wanting to answer both, Rose told her sister, "It's not working."

Anger blinding him, Joey proclaimed, "Duel me! Right here, right now! If you want to battle Pegasus, you have to go through me first!"

Hearing that, everyone thought Joey had lost his mind and ran forward to try and convince him to take back the challenge; to their dismay, however, their pleas fell on deaf ears, as Joey was too upset to think straight. What made it worse was that Kaiba accepted the challenge, thinking it would be fun to crush Joey's confidence into nothingness, especially since neither of them would put up any star chips as a bargain. He then revealed why: he wanted to test out of his duel disc system with Joey as a guinea pig. Joey was up for the challenge, especially after Kaiba explained the process by summoning Battle Ox (ATK 1700); even if he was a little intimidated by seeing a Duel Monster outside of a dueling arena, Joey knew he was skilled with a yo-yo and he believed that Kaiba would be humiliated by a defeat as the duel began.

His hubris blinding him, the blond summoned Armored Lizard (ATK 1500), only to have it easily defeated. Kicking himself for making sure a rookie mistake, the blond summoned Flame Swordsman (ATK 1800), now sure that he would win. But he either did not remember or did not know that Battle Ox were impervious to flame attacks, giving Kaiba another victory. Growing more and more amused by Joey's "skills," Kaiba decided to make things even more fun for him by combining Battle Ox and the Mystic Horseman together to make the Rabid Horseman (ATK 2000). He assumed that Joey's pathetic deck did not have a card stronger than his monster; for a while, he was correct as Joey grew more and more upset and started to just play random monsters and losing life points until he was down to 500 points. Exhausted from anger, Joey collapsed, making Kaiba laugh. "What happened to that confidence you had? Don't tell me it's gone already?"

Rose growled; she could hardly wait until they went back to the tent so she could yell at Tiki for falling for a guy like Kaiba. "Get up, Joey! Don't let this bastard see you like this!"

Everyone was surprised that Rose was getting into this duel, especially Ryou since he knew she barely paid attention to games of any kind. Tea agreed with Rose, that Joey should not give up. After hearing Tristan admit that he did not want to see his best friend like this, the blond got up and, to his luck, drew and summoned the Red Eyes Black Dragon (ATK 2400). Kaiba was quietly impressed that the blond had a rare card at his disposal and barely grimaced when his Rabid Horseman was defeated and Kaiba lost 400 points. But he still had to verbally shoot Joey down, both because it was fun and because it was true. "To get excited after you won in one turn…that's why I say you're the worst duelist to ever exist!"

Joey tried to not let Kaiba's words get to him but his confidence was shot by Kaiba's next words: "Thanks to your friend giving back my deck, I got back a certain card…"

Everyone knew what Kaiba was talking and he confirmed it with his next summon: the Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000)! With one attack, Red Eyes was destroyed and Joey was defeated. Everyone went to check on him, making Kaiba almost laugh. "So have you finally learned your lesson? I must say, I'm surprised you made it this far with your level of incompetence." He then studied Joey and smirked. "It suits you…you on your knees…like a pathetic dog unable to handle a single loss."

This was a new low Kaiba stooped to and the gang was not about to let Kaiba get away with it. Tea hissed, "How can you think that? You don't know why Joey's fighting."

While Rose had no idea what Tea was talking about, the red-haired girl agreed. "Tea's right. Unless you're really a know-it-all like you claim you are, keep your mouth shut!"

Yugi agreed and started to tell Kaiba that Joey was doing so to keep his sister from going blind but Joey cut him off, not wanting Kaiba to know Joey's personal stuff. Kaiba did not care either way. "Every duelist here has a reason to fight…even the pathetic ones. All that matters is that you protect the reason." He then turned back to Joey. "It was a huge mistake to fight me. Now your eyes are that of a loser dog…just like the rest of you."

As Yugi asked why Kaiba was being so harsh and Kaiba started to explain how untouchable Pegasus was in the game (both because he was the creator and because of something unusual he witnessed firsthand when Bandit Keith challenged Pegasus years ago), Tiki tuned out of the conversation. Again, she wondered why she had to fall for someone like Kaiba. Her heart told her there was a reason for Kaiba's actions but her mind was trying to tell her Kaiba was just a jerk. She told herself again that she was not falling for the CEO because of his status or because she felt compelled to change him. Her mind accepted that but then demanded to know why she was; this time, her heart did not have an answer other than she simply was. As Kaiba packed up and admitted that, even if he was not sure if his duel discs would work against Pegasus' trick, he was still going to try if it meant getting Mokuba back. Not even "Yugi" saying that "he" was going to defeat Pegasus was going to deter Kaiba. Too upset to notice that she changed back before Yugi, Tiki lowered her head and started to shake. Rose noticed and was about to hug her when the small brunette said, "You haven't changed a bit, Kaiba Seto…"

Pausing, Kaiba looked back at Tiki, curious to hear what she had to say and whether she would be repeating everyone's words or have her own speech. Lifting her head, Tiki revealed her frown and went to Kaiba, taking back her hand when Rose grabbed her. Once she was in front of the CEO, she looked up at him and said, "You may not realize it but there are others who can understand what you're going through. You're not the only one who—"

His patience worn thin, Kaiba cut her off by snapping, "That's enough! You don't understand anything, you pathetic woman! Don't try and act like you understand what I'm going through and don't you dare give me your pity! In fact—"

All of a sudden, Kaiba was stopped short and the night's air was pierced by the sharp sound of a slap. Everyone was shocked by what happened: Tiki's right arm was extended across her body and her head was lowered so her eyes were hidden by her bangs and Kaiba's face was looking to the right with a red mark forming on his left cheek. Yugi and Rose looked at each other in shock: they knew Tiki better than anyone and knew she was not the type of girl who would slap someone, even if they deserved it. Grinning, Joey cheered, "All right! Nice going, Tiki!"

Tiki's ear twitched and she murmured, "Joey, shut up…"

Joey went silent at that, not sure what Tiki was going through. Kaiba was shocked as wall but more so that someone had the audacity to slap him; what made it worse was that Tiki was a girl, his rival's sister, and, worse yet, half his size. He glared at her and was about to yell at her when she lifted her head enough to look him in the eyes, revealing tears in hers. Seeing the tears and noticing that she seemed more upset with herself, Kaiba surprisingly felt his anger subside. He could not believe himself: he was just slapped in front of the gang of friends he hated and he could not bring himself to yell at Tiki. Having enough of this encounter, Kaiba left in a huff. Once he was out of sight, Tiki collapsed to her knees and felt her body go limp. Rose and Yugi rushed to their sister, worried about her. Rose hugged her, making the brunette collapse against her, as Yugi took the brunette's hands. "Are you all right?"

Tiki did not answer. Just then, Mai and Merina came up to the group. At first confused, Tea and Ryou gave the blondes a summary of what happened. Mai and Merina were not surprised that Joey lost nor that Kaiba was still a jerk. But they were worried about Tiki. Catching Yugi's eyes, Merina said, "I think we should all turn in for the night."

Rose nodded as Yugi smiled softly at Tiki. "Do you need help getting up, sis?"

Tiki nodded so Rose and Yugi helped her up. Tiki was still a bit of a rag doll but she cooperated enough to get herself on her feet. Once she was, everyone turned in for the night, the girls retiring to the tent and the boys sleeping outside. But Tiki, sitting with her knees holding her chin up, was still mentally going through the slap she gave Kaiba. Even she knew it was out of character for her. All the girls were worried about her and hoped to get her mind at ease enough for her to sleep. Tea bent down enough to look Tiki in the eyes. "Hey…talk to us, sweetie."

Rose nodded and hugged her sister from behind. "Tiki, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"

Tiki lowered her head as tears started to fall from her eyes. "That's just it…I'm scaring myself too. I…I slapped him…I've never slapped anyone before…"

Waving it off, Mai said, "Honey, it's what he deserved." Seeing Tea and Rose glaring at her, the older blonde shrugged. "What? I'm just saying the truth. From what you said, Kaiba got up in her face and barked at her. In fact, I'm surprised that's all she did to him."

Tiki lowered her head even more, still not feeling better. Rose hugged her tighter and Tea tried to cheer up her friend but nothing seemed to work until Mai spoke up again: "Though it's strange: knowing Kaiba, I half-expected Kaiba to respond to being slapped like that."

Hearing that, Tiki thought it over and released that Mai was right. When they made eye contact after she slapped him, it looked like he wanted revenge but could not for some reason. Did that mean there was still hope? Seeing Tiki's reaction, Merina had to add, "Mai, you have a point but this is Kaiba we're talking about."

Rose looked up at Merina, glad she was speaking with logic. "How so?"

Merina frowned a little. "Just because he didn't react now doesn't mean he won't be holding a grudge. Look at the grudge he's holding against Yugi and that was just for a duel."

Hearing that, Tiki lowered her eyes a bit. She knew a man like Kaiba would hold grudges better than attacking right out. Still, her heart believed that she was the exception to that. Taking a deep breath, she sat up and smiled softly at everyone. "Thanks, everyone."

Rose hugged her sister a little tighter. "You all right?"

Tiki knew, deep down, she could not be fully all right until Kaiba gave her a proper reaction but she could act like she was. "Yeah. I'm sorry for worrying you."

Merina chuckled. "It's okay. At least you're not going to become a moper on us."

Tiki giggled as Mai yawned. "Now that that's over with, let's get some sleep."

Everyone agreed; they were all exhausted from a long day of dueling or cheering. As all of them settled into the night after Tea turned off the lantern, Tiki laid back and prayed, 'Seto…please don't hate me…'

* * *

The next morning, Kaiba kept walking through the forest. Having found a safe place to sleep for a couple of hours, he was still very determined to get his brother back. But his mind kept going back to when Tiki slapped him the night before. As he had done many times during the night, he touched his left check, feeling how tender it was. He sneered a little, both upset that he was humiliated and that he did nothing to Tiki. Wanting to distract him, he got out his Duel Monster card-shaped locket and opened it, revealing a picture of a young Mokuba looked up from playing chess. Having a flashback to when he taught Mokuba at the orphanage where they spent a few years of their childhood, he prayed, 'Please wait for me, Mokuba…I will be there soon…'

Because he was so absorbed in his flashback, he did not hear someone sneak up on him until the person spoke up: "It's been a while, Mr. Seto."

Pausing, Kaiba looked towards the source of the voice, recognizing it immediately. Out from behind a nearby tree came Kemo, his gun drawn. Though Kemo looked different, Kaiba still recognized the suited man as Mokuba's former bodyguard. Enjoying having his former boss at gunpoint, Kemo put the gun to Kaiba's temple and sneered, "How tragic it is that we must meet again this way."

Kaiba was determined to not let Kemo get the best of him but he also knew that he had to think critically to avoid being shot. Putting up his hand that held the locket, he warned the former bodyguard, "Don't think you'll get off easy for betraying me like this."

Kemo chuckled, believing he had Kaiba right where he wanted. "I am a servant of Industrial Illusions. Now…I shall escort you to Mister Pegasus' castle."

Not moving but eyeing Kemo and the gun and calculating different moves, Kaiba could not help but sneer, "Are you planning on bring me there dead?"

Kemo wanted to kill Kaiba more than anything but he had his orders. However, there was a loophole: "If you resist, I will have to retaliate."

Seeing how tense Kemo was with excitement at the possibility of doing so, the young CEO sneered, "Wanna try?"

Kemo remembered how crazy some of Kaiba's ideas were but the former bodyguard did not think twice because he believed that whoever had the gun was in control. "Very well. Die!"

Kemo started to squeeze the trigger but it was already too late. Faster than Kemo had ever seen him move, Kaiba revealed a card that he hid in his right hand and used it to block the hammer. Kemo could not believe that his gun was jammed by a single playing card. Now seizing his chance, Kaiba grabbed the gun by the barrel and ripped it out of Kemo's hand, hurting the suit's finger in the process. Though he had to do so to save his life, the CEO was not happy with how he did it. "Thanks to you, you bastard, one of my most valuable cards is ruined!"

Now furious with embarrassment at how he was disarmed, Kemo launched forward to attack Kaiba physically. But he made one mistake: he left his chest wide open, something Kaiba noticed immediately. Using his elbow, Kaiba quickly hit Kemo in the chest, knocking the wind out of the suit and allowing the CEO to grab his tie and flip him over onto his back. Kemo tried to recover but his would-be prisoner did not allow him. Making him sit up by pulling him up by his shirt collar, the teenager pulled Kemo's arm behind him and warned in an icy voice, "If you try anything…your death won't be a pretty one." Turning his attention to the castle, he got down to business. "Now…I order you to take me to where Mokuba is."

Kemo knew he had no choice, especially since he lost his gun and could barely move thanks to his arm being pinned. As Kaiba started to push his captive forward, Kemo obeyed, especially since he remembered the secrets about the castle's layout.

Moments later, they arrived at one of the castle's bodyguard door. Seeing a hand scanner, Kaiba ordered Kemo to open it. Kemo hesitated, stating, "You know, we'll be found out pretty soon."

Kaiba knew that; all the reminder did was infuriate the CEO even more as he growled at Kemo to open the door. Kemo almost laughed, knowing that he was pushing Kaiba's buttons, as he put his hand on the scanner. The computer recognized Kemo, making the door open. Kemo led Kaiba inside. After a while, Kaiba demanded, "How much longer?"

Kemo almost laughed. "If you're worried about Mokuba, don't be." He then had to let out a chuckle. "I guess the bond between brothers is truly strong, huh?"

While Kemo was right, Kaiba did not like talking about his and Mokuba's private life, especially with someone like Kemo. "Shut up and keep walking."

Knowing he was getting closer to his target, Kemo continued to poke. "I see I was right. So you've always been helping him out. After losing your parents at such a young age…I suppose you were only able to move on because of that bond. Touching."

Being reminded of his parent's deaths brought up a small sting in Kaiba's heart and caused him to turn Kemo around. "I thought I told you to shut up!" he yelled.

Kemo could not help but laugh. After years of working for Kaiba, he had never seen the young CEO so emotionally exposed like this. It was amusing to him. Still, he knew Kaiba was physically strong enough to attack him in anger so he gave a sarcastic apology and added, "Don't worry: your precious Mokuba has not been touched by us. Besides, it's only a little farther up ahead."

Still infuriated by Kemo pushing his buttons, Kaiba almost breathed a sigh of relief that he was getting close. Letting Kemo go, he ordered the suit to keep walking. Kemo obeyed but soon stopped. "Here we are."

Looking around, Kaiba put his guard up. The hall was empty but he knew that something was wrong. "What the hell is this?"

Having found what he was looking for, Kemo stated, "I'm only leading you up to this point."

Just as Kaiba was about to demand that Kemo explain, Kemo suddenly stomped on a stone tile, making it sink into the floor and causing an alarm to go off. Kaiba went on high alert and cursed Kemo, who turned and smirked, "The goddess of luck can turn a smile to anyone. The guards will be here soon."

With his limited time even more limited than ever, Kaiba pushed past Kemo and started to run down the hallway. He still had no idea exactly where Mokuba was and that made him run faster. When he came to a section that split into five halls, he did not know which one to go down and he knew he did not have enough time to explore all of them. Suddenly he remembered that guards were on the way so he went up to the ceiling's ledge and hid in the shadows. Just then, three guards came from halls and, after they all admitted that they had not seen Kaiba yet, one guard told the other two to guard Mokuba's cell just in case. As the three split up, Kaiba lowered down to the ground and started to quickly follow the two. He wanted to run up to them and demand that they take him to Mokuba but that was not a logical opinion, especially since there were two of them. Because of the number and that they were on the lookout for him, the CEO knew he had to act in a way where he had the element of surprise on his side.

Moments later, he reached a staircase that lead downwards. This was the only exit in the hall so the brunette knew the guards were downstairs. Figuring that the best surprise attack was a fast one, he jumped down the stairs with one leap, landing at the bottom and knocking the first guard out with his suitcase. The second guard came around the corner with his gun drawn to see what happened. Kaiba wanted to attack him with the suitcase again but was unable to because of how he landed so he knocked the suit out with a blow to the neck with his hand. Leaving his suitcase behind, he grabbed the keys from one of them and went to the cell, hoping this was not a trap. To his relief, Mokuba was in the cell, dirty and a little beat up but alive. Sensing the presence, Mokuba looked up and saw the figure standing there in the shadows. Hoping but unsure, the child asked, "Big brother? Big brother, is that you?"

Revealing his face, Kaiba let out a very small but very rare smile to his kid brother. "Are you all right, Mokuba?"

Mokuba was elated that his hopes came true. Clutching his own Duel Monsters card-shaped locket, he said, "I always knew you'd come save me!" Remembering the promise Kaiba made to never be separated when they were at the orphanage, the child stood up and proudly stated, "Big brother, I never gave them the key! Everything's still safe!"

Mokuba started to go towards the bars but was stopped suddenly by his ankle chains. Now even more infuriated to see Mokuba in chains, Kaiba told Mokuba to wait and the brunette immediately got to work on unlocking the door. As he worked to figure out which key it was, the air was suddenly filled with the sound of footsteps and clapping. Tensing up, Kaiba looked up to see that the sounds belonged to Pegasus, who knew Kaiba's whereabouts the whole time. "Bravo! I must admit, it is so touching to see you two together like this!"

Kaiba hissed at Pegasus, feeling his blood boil towards the American who kidnapped his younger brother. Ignoring the brunette's anger, Pegasus continued. "It was very rude of you to not tell me you were coming. If you had told me, I would have arranged a proper welcome."

Refusing to be on his knees in front of Pegasus for any reason, Kaiba stood up and hissed, "You don't need to worry yourself about me."

Pegasus almost laughed. "Why the cold shoulder, Kaiba-boy?"

Kaiba felt his whole body tense up. "Pegasus, I don't know what you're planning but know this: I will never let you have Kaiba Corporation!"

Pegasus chuckled. "Now you tell me?"

Kaiba was confused by that question, which gave Pegasus an opening. Before Kaiba could demand Pegasus for an answer, a light came from Pegasus' left eye, temporarily blinding Kaiba. When the light dimmed a few seconds later, Kaiba recovered but saw something that made his blood run cold: Mokuba had collapsed face first onto the stone floor. Scared that something was seriously wrong, Kaiba turned to Pegasus to demand an explanation, only to get a silent on: Pegasus held up a Duel Monsters' card that had a picture of a scared Mokuba on it. "What the hell did you do to him?!"

Pegasus stated, "It's a simple trick." Almost mockingly wincing at Kaiba's yell for an explanation, the silver-haired American stated, "This is called a Soul Sealing Card. As you can see, I'll be looking after Mokuba-boy's soul from now on." Seeing that he had Kaiba's attention, Pegasus explained, "If you want Mokuba-boy back, all you have to defeat me in a duel."

While Kaiba still did not believe in the magic that Pegasus was claiming to use, it seemed too much of a coincidence that Mokuba collapsed just after Pegasus' golden eye flashed. Deeming that it was a trick that would still cause Mokuba serious harm, the brunette growled, "Fine! I challenge you right now!"

Enjoying watching Kaiba squirm, Pegasus shook his head. "No. It is impossible right now. You can duel me…after you duel and defeat Yugi-boy."

Hearing Pegasus' terms and conditions for the duel, Kaiba froze for a moment. He could still feel the boulder on his shoulders from the defeat Yugi gave him. He did not plan on defeating Yugi until he knew everything personal and work related was sorted out since he knew that, if he faced Yugi with all that weighing on his mind, he would be distracted. But he needed to get Mokuba back, especially with the condition he was in. Seeing the dilemma work out on the brunette's face, Pegasus firmly but teasingly said, "If you can't defeat Yugi-boy, you'll never get a chance to duel me. Of course, that means Mokuba-boy's soul will never be released from this card."

The teases made Kaiba shake with anger. "Bastard…!"

Having enough with this conversation, Pegasus reached into his pocket and pulled out five star chips, tossing them at Kaiba's feet. Seeing them, Kaiba asked, "Why the hell are you doing this?"

Using his necktie for demonstration, Pegasus explained, "You should be aware by now: you and Yugi-boy are the same as the ends of this tie: pulling against each other and being bound in the same fate…a fate of fighting one another. Right now, the time has come for the two duelists to meet again.

Kaiba suddenly figured out what the star chips were for. "You mean…?!"

Pegasus nodded. "Yes! You must use those star chips as betting stakes in your fight against Yugi-boy. If you win, your company's reputation will be returned to what it was…before your crushing defeat. I'm sure they eagerly await your return."

Kaiba felt his hatred towards the American grow: the young CEO was stuck and Pegasus not only knew that but was enjoying it. Taking a deep breath, Kaiba admitted, "I have no choice but to do what you say." Looking at Mokuba's soulless body, he added, "But, while I don't know how you did that trick…if anything happens to Mokuba…don't forget that the 'tie of fate' is wrapped around your neck!"

Under normal circumstances, Pegasus would have been frightened by Kaiba's threats since a lot of people thought the brunette was capable of physical harm. But the silver-haired American only laughed at the threats because, this time, he held all the valuable pieces. As he walked away, Kaiba picked up the star chips. Looking at Mokuba, the brunette said, "If I have to go through Hell itself to get you back…I will." With that, he went to find Yugi, hoping that his rival was not already at the castle.


	6. How Far Will You Go?

Chapter 6

How Far Will You Go?

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers. ****This chapter will coincide with the fifth chapter of River, with each chapter focusing on a different POV.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

Leaving the dungeons, Kaiba left the castle and stood in front of the doors. He hoped that Yugi and his friends had not already reached the castle's insides. As the wind swept across the stone walkway, the brunette was about to take out his locket and look at Mokuba's picture when he heard Joey barking. Looking, he saw that everyone was starting the climb up the stairs so the CEO took a firm stance and waited. When the gang got to the last flight of stairs, they noticed him and were shocked that he was there. Kaiba was glad that his belief that Yugi would get ten star chips was true. He allowed them to get close before straightening out and stating, "I will not let you pass." Yugi asked Kaiba why not and the young CEO explained, "I now know my fate on this island…and you are involved. As long as you are alive, you will be a thorn in my side, constantly reminding me of what you did. The winds of battle arise like a tornado whenever you and I fight!"

As if wanting to make a point, a gust of wind blew from the ocean. Tea snapped, "Kaiba, stop making trouble!"

Merina agreed. "For once in your life, set aside your petty anger and let us pass!"

Still angry at Kaiba humiliating him the night before with the duel disk prototype, Joey hissed, "Kaiba, I'll be your opponent! This time, I'll punch you into next week!"

Kaiba just laughed, infuriating Joey even more. The brunette liked to push the blonde's buttons because he was so easy to provoke. Kaiba would have let Joey come up and attack because he would knock the novice down to teach him a lesson but Tristan and Ryou held him back. The CEO almost demanded Tristan and Ryou to let their friend charge when he noticed that Joey also had 10 star chips. Now he had new ammo: "I can't believe that this loser dog almost got ten star chips. Congratulations: you've been promoted from 'loser dog' to 'nobody!'" He then turned back to Yugi. "A miracle…I have been searching for such an answer since our last match: 'why did I lose to Mutou Yugi? How did he summon such a miracle at the perfect time?' Finally, I believe I have found the answer: Yugi possessed something I didn't have at that time…" He took out his locket and looked at his picture of Mokuba. He was now going to put the idea of being stronger when shouldering the weight of protecting someone to the test in the only way he knew how: defeating Yugi. "Yugi! If you want to enter this castle, you must defeat me fist in a duel of fate!"

With those words, Kaiba felt a fire build up in his system. Looking at his friend, Ryou said, "Yugi, don't accept this duel!"

Merina agreed. "You've already collected enough star chips. There's no point to this!"

Tiki added, "Plus, Pegasus might be watching. You don't want your strategies revealed where he could be watching!"

Kaiba sneered. He hated that Yugi's friends were always putting their noses in his and Yugi's duels. Knowing that he held all the cards in this situation, he said, "You should know, Yugi: it is the blood of a duelist that brought us together like this!"

Hearing that, Yugi knew Kaiba was right and "he" stepped forward, declaring, "Kaiba, I understand! I accept and I will defeat you!"

Smirking, Kaiba got his briefcase and told them to follow him to the stage of the duel. It was the top of a part of the castle that connected two towers by a walkway. With Kaiba on one side and "Yugi" on the other and each having a prototype duel disk in their hand, the stage was set. Holding up the five star chips he got from Pegasus, Kaiba got down to business. "We will each bet five star chips on this duel. Therefore, only the winner will enter Pegasus' castle."

"Yugi" agreed and both participants threw their star chips at each other. Holding up his duel disk prototype, Kaiba told "Yugi" to put "his" deck in the deck hold on "his" left arm. Once the decks and life points were set, Kaiba proclaimed, "Yugi! It's time to determine the strongest in the ultimate card battle!"

Seemingly unfazed, "Yugi" exclaimed, "I accept any and all battles! And Kaiba? I will defeat you!"

As the duel started, Kaiba took the first turn, tossing the duel disk to the ground. Spinning rapidly, it produced the hologram of Ryu-Kishin Powered (ATK 1600) and four Duel Monsters cards in front of him. Everyone was shocked, Joey speaking up, "That's not what happened when I fought him!"

"Yugi," however, was not fazed. Using the same technique, "he" summoned Curse of Dragon (ATK 2000) and four other cards. Impressed that his rival figured it out, Kaiba stated, "While we are enemies, Yugi, we do share the same objectives."

"Yugi" knew what Kaiba was talking about: "Defeating Pegasus!"

Kaiba nodded. "However, if you really want him defeated, then lose to me here. That is your only option because it is impossible for you to beat Pegasus!"

"Yugi" appeared a little insulted that Kaiba said that "he" could not defeat Pegasus but Kaiba did not care. The brunette knew that Pegasus' strategy in the game was reading people's minds. He did not know if it was because of psychic powers, even though that sounded ridiculous, or some sort of trick but he did know one thing: Pegasus' method worked. Because of that, he believed that using his duel disk's solid vision to obscure his body and face would work. Growing impatient at "Yugi" not doing anything, Kaiba barked, "What are you waiting for, Yugi?! Attack my Ryu-Kishin Powered!"

Accepting the challenge, "Yugi" had his monster attack Kaiba's, destroying it and lessening Kaiba's Life Points by 400. Kaiba smirked as he recalled his duel disk. "As I expected: you came at me with no fear. If taking the first hit and losing a few life points was all it took to make sure you were taking this seriously, so be it."

Joey laughed a little. "All right! Don't be scared by Kaiba's bluff, Yugi!"

Using his middle finger to draw a card so he could flip off Joey without the blonde noticing, Kaiba drew and summoned Swordstalker (ATK 2000). While the battle would have normally ended in a draw, Swordstalker had a special ability: channeling the anger of its fallen comrades into his sword, thus raising his ATK by 20%. Pleased with his monster's special ability, Kaiba ordered Swordstalker to attack but Curse of Dragon disappeared before the sword hit its mark. "Yugi" revealed why: one of his cards was the magic card Monster Replace, which replaced Curse of Dragon with the monster card with the highest ATK. That card was Dark Magician (ATK 2500). Once again, one of Kaiba's monsters was defeated, leaving Kaiba with 1500 life points. Joey cheered for "Yugi" before jeering, "Kaiba, don't underestimate Yugi, you ass!"

While he did not see the combo coming, Kaiba was not upset. "Yugi…dueling you again…makes my heart beat faster."

"Yugi" ignored Kaiba as "he" returned Curse of Dragon to the field with Dark Magician. In response to having a card combo played on him, Kaiba decided to play a card combo himself, starting with Le Jinn, The Genie of the Lamp (ATK 1800). "Yugi" had Dark Magician attack La Jinn, seemingly wanting this duel over and done with. That was what Kaiba was waiting for: he activated the trap car Magic Lamp. La Jinn hid inside the lamp, protecting it from Dark Magician's attack, and the lamp's reflective surface deflected the attack back to Curse of Dragon, destroying it and reducing "Yugi's" life points to 1500. Unable to do anything against the Magic Lamp, "Yugi" put another card in the four on display and kept Dark Magician in play. Upset at first, "he" soon had a smirk on "his" face. "Kaiba…to trap ME…well done!"

Kaiba said nothing but kept his smirk on his face. He was glad that "Yugi" was impressed but he knew that "he" had no idea that Kaiba's real trap was coming together. He already had one of his Blue Eyes in his hand. The one dragon would have won the duel for its master but Kaiba had a bigger plan in mind: he was going to fuse all three of his Blue Eyes to make a new, more powerful monster. He could already imagine what it would look like and it made his spirit laugh with glee. As his fantasy continued to play in his head, he heard the gang start to talk and he tuned them out, not caring about their opinions. Before he drew another card, he looked at "Yugi" and knew that, with his formula towards the duel and his fusion creation, he knew he would emerge victorious. Drawing his card, Kaiba smirked. "I have found my trump card: Undo Magic! I will combine it with La Jinn."

With this strategy, he planned to show "Yugi" just how different this kind of dueling was. Once he summoned his monster, he proclaimed, "With La Jinn, I will destroy one magic card on your side of the board!"

When prompted, La Jinn attacked one of the four cards in "Yugi's" "hand." To Kaiba's luck, La Jinn destroyed Swords of Revealing Light. "A good hit."

As "Yugi" called back "his" duel disk, Kaiba could see his rival running strategies through "his" head. He almost laughed at how dedicated "Yugi" was, despite going up against someone who saw himself as the best duelist to ever live. When "he" got "his" cards and Dark Magician on the field, Kaiba teased, "Come and attack La Jinn! You'll only fall into my trap again!"

"Yugi" smirked, not letting Kaiba's taunts get to "him." "Very well, for I will now break the La Jinn and Magic Lamp combo, Kaiba!"

Kaiba could not believe that his combo would be defeated but it was what "Yugi" did first that really got to Kaiba: Yugi played the magic card, The Eye of Truth. Kaiba could not believe the slap he had just gotten from "Yugi;" showing one's cards to their opponent was a big disgrace because strategies could be exposed if the cards were seen. There was nothing he could do as his cards were revealed, including his Blue Eyes. As everyone looked in shock and wondered why Kaiba had not played his Blue Eyes yet, Kaiba felt his anger grow. It was bad enough to show his rival his hand; it was worse to have the gang see it as well. But he realized that "Yugi" backed "himself" into an even deeper corner. With his ultimate plan of fusing his three Blue Eyes, what he really needed was the Polymerization card; once he did that, he would return the favor of humiliation back to "Yugi."

His thoughts were broken, however, when "Yugi" activated Magic Box. Seconds later, two boxes appeared on the field, one surrounding Dark Magician and one surrounding one of Kaiba's cards. Suddenly, swords pierced the box that was on "Yugi's" side. But it was a trick: the box opened to reveal the Magic Lamp trap card. Off "Yugi's" command, Dark Magician came out of the other box and waved its finger at Kaiba's scowl, as if amused at Kaiba's anger. Having Dark Magician right where "he" wanted, "Yugi" had "his" monster attack and destroy a now unprotected La Jinn, reducing Kaiba's life points to 800. Seeing Kaiba's scowl tremble in anger, "Yugi" loudly proclaimed, "Kaiba! I won't let you fuse your three Blue-Eyes! I'll reduce your life points to zero before I allow you to do that!"

His anger spent, Kaiba chuckled. "As I expected, Yugi. You know me well, after all. However, do not underestimate me! You think you know my formula for victory but it's even more perfect than you can even begin to imagine!"

"Yugi" chuckled as Kaiba believed that "Yugi's" loss was close but he was determined to take his time chipping away at "Yugi's" life points and deck. Drawing his card, Kaiba looked down at the two cards in his hand. He had dubbed this the most terrifying combo to ever exist: the ultimate murder combo. The title was one that he came up with after his many duels when people forfeited after getting hit with this combo. He placed the monster card Saggi the Dark Clown (DEF 1500) on the Battle stage and the trap card on the Sub stage before tossing the disk back into play and ending his turn. Staring across the way, he could see "Yugi's" eyes sparking as "he" wondered what he was up to. Kaiba knew that "Yugi" had no choice but to attack his monster, especially since Kaiba was going to keep playing Saggi until "Yugi" did. No matter what "Yugi" did, Kaiba knew that he trapped "him" in an inescapable trap.

Calling back "his" duel disk, "Yugi" drew and summoned Gaia the Fierce Knight (ATK 2300), having it attack Saggi. Kaiba chuckled softly: it had begun. "You fell for it!"

When Saggi was destroyed, its body parts became a purple mist that destroyed Gaia, to "Yugi's" surprise. Rubbing salt into the wound, Kaiba pointed out, "Not just Gaia!"

Right before "Yugi's" eyes, the Dark Magician card disintegrated. Laughing, Kaiba revealed the culprit: the deadly trap card Deck Destruction Virus of Death. "When I played Saggi the Dark Clown, I infected him with the Death Virus. When your monster attacked mine, it became infected! Now…the Death Virus will spread to every card in your deck! The Virus card's effect will destroy every monster with 1500 or higher Attack Points!" His smirk growing, the CEO sneered, "I just destroyed your entire deck!" Laughing in his triumph, Kaiba taunted, "With nothing but worthless cards left, all you can do is wait for defeat! Yugi…this time, I will teach you the true mean of a duel of terror."

Joey growled. "Damn that bastard! To use such a card…"

Kaiba brushed off Joey's insults, knowing that they were as bothersome as a slight itch. The brunette let "Yugi" draw a card and put it on "his" disk since neither of them had a monster in play. Seeing "Yugi" frustrated at the card "he" drew, Kaiba told "him," "Before you play your next card, I will pass my turn. I can wait."

Kaiba was enjoying watching "Yugi" squirm at his taunts. He was also glad that "Yugi" did not surrender to the combo like other duelists. As "Yugi" played Silver Fang (DEF 800), Kaiba almost laughed. "As expected, all you have left is junk designed to lose!"

With that, Kaiba drew, getting the second Blue Eyes. Now he was halfway done with his plan. He knew that "Yugi" had nothing but weakling monsters left and that was fine for now; it would give Kaiba all the time he needed to collect Polymerization and the third Blue Eyes and then fuse the three together. Determining to save them until the time was right, he put the second Blue Eyes in the sub card stage and summoned Battle Ox (ATK 1700). Off Kaiba's orders, the monster attacked and destroyed Silver Fang. Laughing at his victory, he declared, "I have even more stronger monsters in my deck! However, even if I decide to stay with Battle Ox, not even your strongest monster can stand against him!"

Ending his turn, Kaiba watched "Yugi," figuring his rival was trying to figure out how to defeat Battle Ox. He was still impressed that "he" kept going even with the virus infecting "his" deck. Deciding to twist the blade, he teased, "Come now, summon your next monster! Still…it will only be a measly Defense monster, correct?"

"Yugi" drew his card and summoned Griffor. Chuckling, Kaiba assumed, "Another weak monster in Defense Mode, is it? My Battle Ox will destroy it in an instant!"

Chuckling as well, "Yugi" proudly stated, "My Griffor is not in Defense Mode!"

Before Kaiba could react fast enough, "Yugi" activated "his" magic card, Horn of the Unicorn. Thanks to the power boost, Griffor went from ATK 1200 to ATK 1900 and defeated the Battle Ox, leaving Kaiba with 600 life points. Laughing at Kaiba losing that turn, Joey teased, "All right! Scared now, Kaiba?!"

Kaiba wanted to growl at Joey to shut up but he had to focus on this duel. Instead, he sneered, "Thank you for killing off that weak Battle Ox. But of course…such a move leaves you wide open for the rest of the turn."

After that taunt, he drew and got his third and final Blue Eyes. Before he could put his plan together, however, he played Holy Elf's Blessing, raising his life points by 300. Now that he got back all his lost life points and then some, he was now ready. While he could only summon one Blue Eyes right away, that was more than enough to put "Yugi" at his mercy. With that in mind, he summoned one Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000). Seeing "Yugi" take a step back made Kaiba feel more prideful than ever. "This is it, Yugi!"

Off its master's command, the Blue Eyes attacked and destroyed Griffor, leaving "Yugi" with only 400 life points. Almost laughing that the weak monster was destroyed, the CEO said, "Your life will vanish as well very soon. Your turn!"

"Yugi" gritted his teeth and summoned Giant Soldier of Stone (DEF 2000) to protect "his" life points. Saying nothing to what "Yugi" was doing, Kaiba drew a card. To his luck, he finally pulled Polymerization. Feeling the excitement of victory welling up inside him, he whispered with venom, "Yugi…ever since that first match…I have had a hunger for victory that has yet to be satisfied…but finally…I can satisfy this hunger! A pain…you will now feel!"

Recalling his duel disk, he did a card combo that made history: the three cards turned to reveal the other two Blue Eyes and the magic card Polymerization. Above its master, the Blue Eyes that was on the field cracked and exploded in bright light, revealing a new monster: the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (ATK 4500). It looked like a regular Blue Eyes but with three heads, each marked with stripes that almost looked like war paint, making them look even more frightening. Laughing at his triumph, Kaiba boasted, "You see?! This is the strongest killing machine! The ultimate form!"

The gang was just as speechless as "Yugi." Relishing in his ultimate victory, Kaiba enjoyed the look of stress and almost fear in "Yugi's" face. With 400 life points and the virus still crippling "his" deck," the brunette knew that his rival would now know what it was like to have a stain on "his" dueling soul. Smirking, Kaiba sneered, "Are you ready, Yugi? Now it's time to YOU to carry the cross of the defeat like I did! With it, you will crawl on the ground in shame!"

With that, he ordered the Ultimate Dragon to attack and destroy the Giant Soldier of Stone. All three heads combined their electric attack, making a more powerful, blinding attack that disintegrated "Yugi's" monster. With "Yugi's" field wide open, Kaiba chuckled to himself, feeling the hands of the Goddess of Victory reaching for him. It especially felt good that "Yugi" seemed more panicked than ever as the CEO demanded, "Draw a card or surrender!"

"Yugi" went to draw a card. Kaiba was impressed that "Yugi" did not surrender in the face of utter defeat but he could tell even from a distance that "his" hand was trembling. The gang tried to cheer on "Yugi," giving Kaiba the onset of a headache. He did not understand why they were so delusional to think that "he" had a chance at winning. After a moment, however, "Yugi" calmed "his" hand down and declared, "I…I will never give up!"

Kaiba agreed. "That's right…come at me until the very end! After all, I want to crush you when you're at your maximum strength!"

"Yugi" took a moment to draw, allowing Kaiba to twist his dagger even further. "Give up! No matter what card you draw, it's hopeless!"

Taking a deep breath, "Yugi" drew "his" card. As "he" looked at it, Kaiba wondered how long "Yugi" would delude "himself" into thinking that "he" could win. After all, while Defense Mode would keep "him" in the duel, the brunette knew it was just a delay towards defeat and no one had enough luck to draw a single card to reverse defeat into victory. But Kaiba became curious and a little worried when "Yugi" looked at "his" card and lit up. "Kaiba, I just drew the ultimate card!"

Before Kaiba could ask what "he" meant by that, "he" recalled "his" duel disk and summoned the weakest monster in Duel Monsters, Kuriboh (ATK 300). The Ultimate Dragon looked down at the furball monster as Kaiba could not believe his eyes. "I can't believe you! Your ultimate card is the weakest monster with the lowest Attack Points?!"

The gang could not believe it either. Joey stated, "That little guy doesn't look so tough."

Merina stated, "Because he's not. The Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon can destroy that thing with a flick of its claws!"

After getting over his initial shock, Kaiba then laughed. "Yugi, if you want to forfeit the match, it's in your right. But don't embarrass yourself by playing that piece of trash. With the lowest Attack Point and the lowest card level…I'm surprised someone even has it in their deck!" His anger growing, Kaiba stated, "Yugi, if you intend to make a mockery of this match with that pathetic excuse for a monster, I'll never forgive you!"

"Yugi" smirked. "Kaiba, you're wrong. This is my trump card and it will defeat the Ultimate Dragon!"

Kaiba looked at "Yugi" like his rival was delusional. The weakest monster in existence would beat the most powerful monster in existence? But "Yugi" had a trick up "his" sleeve as "he" played the magic card Multiply. Because Kuriboh had less than 500 Attack Points, the magic card went to work, slowly but surely covering the field with squealing Kuribohs. Seeing the look of panic on Kaiba's face, "Yugi" chuckled. "True, Kuriboh is only a low level monster with only 300 Attack Points. But never look down on it because of that, for it has hidden powers that can overtake even the strongest of monsters!"

Kaiba refused to believe that. "All you're doing is giving my Ultimate Dragon more bodies to make corpses out of!"

As if wanting to prove his point, he had his Ultimate Dragon attack, not noticing that "Yugi" did not seem the least bit worried. Kaiba, however, found out immediately why: as soon as the electric attack hit the Kuribohs, the furballs exploded, providing a smoke screen for the rest of the little monsters. The answer became clear to the CEO: Kuribohs were like land mines, exploding the second they were hit with an attack. "Yugi" confirmed Kaiba's speculation. "You are correct! Because of the special ability, Ultimate Dragon's attack will never destroy Kuriboh!"

Kaiba's anger grew and grew as the Kuribohs continued to multiply. He felt even more angered when "Yugi" stated, "Unless you destroy all of them, Kuriboh will continue to multiply. In other words…the only way to defeat me is to defeat every…single…one! Until then, I have a second trump card to play!"

Kaiba did not know what "Yugi" meant. If Kuriboh was the ultimate defense, what more did "Yugi" have to play? The brunette continued to be curious as his rival stated that it was a three-card combo guaranteed to destroy the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. "Yugi" revealed the combo with the three cards in front of "him:" monster card Mammoth Graveyard (ATK 1200), magic card Polymerization, and magic card Living Arrow. Kaiba knew that the Living Arrow allowed "Yugi" to play "his" magic cards on his monsters but why would "he" use Polymerization with it? "Yugi" then revealed "his" master plan: "Just as you fused the three Blue Eyes White Dragons, I will fuse my monster with Ultimate Dragon!"

Kaiba was shocked but unable to do anything as the Living Arrow fired the Mammoth Graveyard at Ultimate Dragon. The sight of Mammoth Graveyard's head sticking out of the Ultimate Dragon's chest almost made Kaiba throw up. "What the hell is this?!"

"Yugi" twisted the knife even further by saying, "Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon is a living Light Monster. When it's fused with a Dark undead monster, the effects of the fusion will take effect. Its body will start to decompose!"

As "Yugi" was saying that, the effects started immediately: the Ultimate Dragon started to smoke purple smoke and started to melt. Seeing his creation like this almost gave Kaiba a heart attack, especially when Yugi added, "Mammoth Graveyard's Attack Points are 1200. Every turn, Ultimate Dragon will lose 1200 Attack Points as a result. The tables have now turned, Kaiba!"

Kaiba could not believe it: once again, "Yugi" found the perfect cards to get the attention of the Goddess of Victory. While this was not like when "he" summoned Exodia, this was almost as bad. Feeling panic raising in his heart, he looked at his deck, as if trying to figure out a way out of this mess. He did have Negate Attack somewhere in his deck but, while that was a good card to save monsters from attack damage, it was useless against Polymerization. So there was nothing he could do as the Ultimate Dragon went from 4500 ATK to 3300 ATK. Ignoring the gang's words, the brunette started to shake. "No…this match is not over yet! I will not lose to you again!"

Despite having now 3300 ATK, Ultimate Dragon could still win against Kuriboh so the CEO ordered his creation to attack. Seeing this, "Yugi" told Kaiba that it was useless and "he" was right: it was impossible for Ultimate Dragon to destroy all the Kuribohs when it had all its strength, let alone when it was dying from the inside. Kaiba's anger grew, causing him to call the Kuribohs trash for daring to stand against him, as "Yugi" proudly drew a card and ended "his" turn. As the Ultimate Dragon's ATK went down to 2100, Kaiba grit his teeth and continued to shake in anger. How dare "Yugi" just skip a turn? Anger blinding him, Kaiba ordered another attack. When the attack failed once again and he saw the amused smirk on "Yugi's" face, Kaiba could feel himself start to shut down. He knew that there was no use in continuing to attack the wall of Kuribohs, especially with his Ultimate Dragon once against losing ATK points and now having 900. As "Yugi" skipped "his" turn again, Kaiba straightened out, feeling his mind snap off. With the idea of losing again, he froze, looking at his dying creation. With him losing again, he would lose Mokuba to Pegasus again. That was even worse than his rival beating him. All of a sudden, he heard a familiar voice: "Big brother…!"

Kaiba's panic-stricken eyes widened: Mokuba was stuck in the rotting Ultimate Dragon! "Big brother! Please help me!"

In his shock, Kaiba could not move. As Mokuba continued to cry for help, a Young Seto suddenly came out of Kaiba and started to run towards the dying monster. Despite how fast he ran, he could not get any closer as Mokuba sank into the monster and the monster melted into nothing. Feeling both helplessness and an odd sensation in his hand, Kaiba looked down at it and was shocked to see it melting like the Ultimate Dragon did! Looking up, he saw Young Seto glaring at him. "Why?! Why didn't you help him?! How dare you not put even your life on the line for him?! Answer me! WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HIM?!"

Feeling as if each word was an arrow to his heart, Kaiba abruptly found himself falling into darkness. Was this what he deserved for not helping his little brother in his time of need? Just as soon as he thought that, he suddenly found himself back in the real world. The whole thing was a hallucination but it left an impression on him. He now knew what he had to do. Because he took so long to move, he forfeited his turn, allowing "Yugi" to draw and summon Celtic Guardian (ATK 1400). Now with "his" (currently) strongest card in play, "he" had it attack the dragon. Because of its weakened state, one of its heads dropped to the ground but the dragon itself did not disappear. Because the Ultimate Dragon was a fusion of three Blue Eyes, all three heads needed to be destroyed to fully defeat the Ultimate Dragon. Kaiba's life points, however, still dropped to 400. Looking at him from inside her heart, Tiki started to get very worried about what Kaiba was thinking. After a moment, Kaiba revealed his final plan. "Yugi…this game…has just begun. I lost 500 life points in that last attack. If one square on the ground equals 100 life points…then I shall move backwards for each lost. 500 points…so…five squares…"

With that, Kaiba took steps back until he climbed onto the ledge. Now everyone was really scared, especially Tiki. She wanted to come out but she did not remember how to do that on her own. Seeing that he had "Yugi's" full attention, Kaiba explained, "I am now at the edge. If you attack on your next turn, you will kill the Ultimate Dragon and will be taking my life." Hearing "Yugi" about to plead with Kaiba to not do this, the brunette smirked and stated, "I will gladly die in the name of a duel!"

No one could believe what they were hearing, especially since it was very clear that Kaiba was being very serious. Getting more and more scared, Tea pleased, "Kaiba, please! Don't do something that could kill you!"

Because of how Kaiba was on a regular basis, Joey still thought that Kaiba was bluffing. "Kaiba, you bastard! You're not playing fair! How dare you try and bluff your way out of Yugi's last attack!"

Kaiba smirked wider and closed his eyes, leading Rose to say, "I don't think he's bluffing, Joey…"

Merina agreed. "You know how extreme Kaiba gets. This is the real deal."

Joey paled at that. Kaiba smirked, glad that Merina was smart enough to see what he was doing. Turning back to "Yugi," Kaiba stated, "Yugi, your worth as a duelist will be tested on your next turn. This game…it is like two mirrors held against each other…the question now is how will you counter your own moves? Furthermore, you must now place yourself in your opponent's mind in order to obtain victory. If I was in your position…I would push myself over the edge without hesitating for a single second."

Having made his point, Kaiba took his turn. His plan was to just draw a card but his deck gave him an unexpected gift: Monster Reborn. With it, he revived the destroyed Blue Eyes head. "Yugi" could not believe what "he" was hearing: was that even possible? To "his" surprise, the head was revived but it was the head of a regular Blue Eyes (ATK 3000). Knowing that he could not attack because the head was destroyed while fused, the brunette gave "Yugi" a cold look and stated, "It's your turn, Yugi!"

"Yugi" looked at the two infected heads and the fully-powered head. Kaiba mentally smirked. He knew that "Yugi" would not have the guts to attack if it meant bringing harm to someone, even if that someone was "his" rival. Seeing "Yugi's" hesitation, Kaiba yelled, "Slit my throat with your card!"

When he shouted that, he drew his thumb across his neck. He then waited and, after a moment of thinking, the brunette could tell that "he" made a decision: "he" ordered the Celtic Guardian to attack! Shocked by this and hearing Tiki scream in horror, "Tiki" let her take over, knowing that only she could help her brother take control again. As she and Tea ran towards Yugi, time seemed to slow down. Tiki screamed, "Yugi, stop!"

"Yugi" ignored them. Growing more and more upset, Tea pleaded, "Yugi, turn back to the normal Yugi!"

"Yugi" looked up and saw the girls running towards "him." All of a sudden, "Yugi" collapsed to "his" hands and knees. At the same time, Celtic Guardian stopped just short of the dragon, as if it could not sense the will to attack from its duelist anymore. Hearing the shuddering gasps of Yugi, Kaiba closed his eyes. "I win."

To seal his victory, he had the strong Blue Eyes head attack and destroy the Celtic Guardian, wiping out the rest of Yugi's life points. As Kaiba got down off the ledge and recalled his duel disk, he could hear Yugi start to cry but he was unmoved. All he cared about was that he won, getting back his honor and getting enough star chips to challenge Pegasus to get his brother back. As the gang went to Yugi and surrounded him as if in a protective circle, Kaiba took a moment to look at Yugi. He figured that the smaller duelist would have an excuse for what he did. Soon, Yugi shakenly uttered, "I…I couldn't do it…! If it kept going…Kaiba would have died!"

Joey uttered, "You mean you…"

Tristan finished, "You forfeited to save Kaiba."

Ryou understood. "There was no other way to stop this fight…"

Yugi whimpered to himself, "I'm scared…I'm really scared! Of this game…and of…the other…!"

Sniffling, Tiki lowered down with her own teary eyes and hugged Yugi across the shoulders to try and comfort him. Lowering down as well, Tea tearfully said, "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…Yugi…but…you did…you did the right thing!"

Yugi opened his eyes and looked up at Tea. Hearing enough, Kaiba scoffed, "In the end, you showed weakness. If you had the cold-heartedness needed to push me off the ravine, you would have emerged victorious. You should know better than you care for your opponent's safety!"

Her anger growing, Tea stood up but Merina beat her to it. "Shut the hell up, Kaiba! You're the one who lost the duel!" Kaiba could not believe what she was saying as the blond continued. "Kaiba…during this duel, you lost the one thing that was really important to you! How dare you bet your life like it was worth nothing! Star chips mean nothing; it's the reason behind your motives that is the driving point! Kaiba…I hope you can look Mokuba in the eye when you rescue him after all the underhanded tricks you used to get him!"

Kaiba shook with anger. How dare this blond lecture him like this? But what made it worse was that he knew she was right. Had he really become so desperate that he would stoop so low to ensure victory? Did Kaiba really become the one person he despised? Did Kaiba become him? Not wanting to face reality nor the answer to his own questions, Kaiba took the star chips and left. As everyone ignored him, Tiki ran up to him. "Wait!"

Kaiba stopped and looked down at her. He was surprised that she was even talking to him, especially after what happened the night before and what the brunette just did to her brother. Maybe she had something else to add to Merina's speech. To his surprise, however, she simply said, "I'm sorry I slapped you…"

Kaiba stared at her. She was apologizing for that? Once again, she puzzled him. Looking up at the CEO, Tiki lowered her head, thinking that he was indeed holding a grudge. As she turned to go back to the group, she heard him say, "I don't blame you for what you did."

Tiki looked back at Kaiba in surprise. Catching her eye, Kaiba turned and started to walk up to the castle. Once again, Tiki felt very confused. While she was upset by how far he went to win, her heart was still set on him. Suddenly, a hand found its way to her shoulder. Looking up, Tiki saw that it was Merina. "That path he's on…it can only lead to trouble. Someone needs to make sure that he knows what he's doing and sees that he ends up going straight."

Tiki looked up at Merina. "What do you mean?"

Merina simply stated, "I don't get your feelings for him but I can tell that they are genuine. So…do what you think is right."

Tiki was still confused but she knew what the right thing to do in this scenario was. With that, she ran, hoping to catch up to him. To her luck, she found him at the door just as Kemo was opening it. "Wait!"

Kaiba looked back and raised his eyebrow, feeling annoyed. "What?"

After catching her breath, Tiki said, "I'm coming with you."

Kemo wanted to stop her since she had no star chips but he got word on the wireless to let her in with him. After staring at her for a moment, Kaiba turned and started to walk in. "Whatever."

Thinking that was the best thing she would get, Tiki followed him. Mentally preparing himself to challenge Pegasus, Kaiba was also distracted by Tiki's decision to follow him, especially since he figured she would stay with her brother. After a minute, he asked, "Why are you here?"

Tiki looked up at Kaiba and said after considering her words, "I want to see your true character."

Kaiba stopped for a moment. While he was surprised by what she said, he did not show it. Instead, he smirked. "Not that I need to prove myself to anyone but very well: I will show you my character."

With that, he continued to walk with Tiki following. As she walked, she looked behind her and saw the door closed. She was worried about Yugi and hoped that their friends would help him. Taking a deep breath, she silently prayed, 'God, please help my brother any way You can…and help him find a way inside the castle…' With that, she continued to follow, not knowing that her prayer would be answered and that her forgetting to pray for Kaiba would cost her.


	7. Humiliation

Chapter 7

Humiliation

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

After a few minutes of walking, Kaiba stopped. Almost running into him, Tiki looked up. "Why did you stop?"

Kaiba looked down at her. "This is where we will separate." Tiki was about to protest when he said, "I must go and face Pegasus alone. There is no room for you in this battle."

Tiki blushed and puffed up her cheeks like a child before crossing her arms in a pout. "How the hell am I supposed to see your true character if I don't see you?"

Kaiba did not care about that because his mind was focused on the upcoming duel. What almost amused him was how Tiki was acting like someone Mokuba's age than a high school student. "You will see it when I duel. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

As he started to leave, Kaiba started to retreat into himself to get even more ready when he heard Tiki say, "Um…good luck…and be careful."

Kaiba looked back at Tiki before smirking. "You're going to regret having little faith in me."

Tiki did not say anything until Kaiba was out of sight. Once she was left alone, she sighed and lowered her head. "I have faith in you…but you don't know Pegasus' power…"

Just then, she heard someone clear their throat. Looking behind her, she saw a suit with teal-colored hair and moustache. Introducing himself as Croquet, he politely said to her, "There is a balcony where you can watch the duel. If you would follow me, miss, I can take you there."

Tiki was a little hesitant but she did want to see Kaiba take on Pegasus so she nodded and followed him. As soon as they arrived at the balcony overlooking a walkway over an empty pit, however, she saw that Bandit Keith was already there and looked at Croquet. "Can I watch somewhere else?"

Keith looked up and smirked, making a shiver go up Tiki's spine. Croquet looked down at her and calmly but firmly stated, "There is no other place to watch. You will have to make due."

Tiki shook her head. "I don't want to be near him! Why can't I just sit in the chair on the other side?"

Croquet stated, "That is Master Pegasus' chair."

Keith grinned and said in a disgusting flirty tone, "Come on, baby. Don't you want to be around the Intercontinental Champion of America?"

Tiki shook her head. Noticing how she was acting, Croquet looked at Keith and said, "If you touch so much as a single hair on this young lady's head, I will see to it personally that Master Pegasus will disqualify you from the finals."

Keith scowled but turned his attention back to the pit. Tiki sighed in relief and turned to thank Croquet but he was already leaving. Mentally shrugging, she stared at the pit until she heard people running up to her. Looking up, she smiled: it was her brother and friends with Mai! "Hey! You made it!"

Yuugi nodded and then looked behind her. "What's he doing here?"

Tiki looked over her shoulder and grimaced. "Besides being a pig, I don't know."

Hearing everyone, Keith looked up and smirked. "Well, well, well, isn't this a surprise?! I can't believe you guys got out of the cave!"

Tiki hissed, "Oh, and you're not surprised that I wasn't trapped as well?"

Keith licked his lips. "You're too hot to belong in that dark hole."

Tiki shuddered again as Merina hugged her from behind and cursed at him in English. Joey was just as furious as everyone else. "Bandit Keith, you have some nerve to trap us in that cave!"

Racing forward, Joey started to throw punches but Keith dodged every punch, finding the attempts humorous. Finally catching the smaller blonde's fist, Keith said, "Relax! I'll be your opponent later! Besides, you're not going to want to miss the show that's about to start!"

Everyone looked and saw that Keith was right: Kaiba was standing in the middle of the walkway. Almost laughing, Keith stated, "It's about to start…Kaiba and Pegasus' duel."

Yugi could not believe it. "They're actually going to duel?"

Before anyone could answer, another voice rang out: "That is correct." Everyone turned around to see Croquet coming up to them. "The four finalists of Duelist Kingdom: welcome to Pegasus' Castle…though it would appear that some uninvited guests have let themselves in. However, I will let that slide this one time. Back to the subject at hand: a special performance has been prepared for those who survived Duelist Kingdom, a special match that Master Pegasus himself has prepared to show his appreciation for your participation."

Mai scoffed. "He just wants to show off how strong he is."

Merina nodded. "Yeah…making people fear him before the battle even begins."

Croquet would have chuckled if he did not want to continue being professional. "Well, that may indeed be the case."

Joey hissed, "He's looking down on us…the bastard."

Believing the words were nothing more than simple words, Croquet said, "Until then, take your time and enjoy watching this special match."

Everyone turned and started to hope that Kaiba would prevail.

* * *

Focused on the task at hand, Kaiba gripped his card locket and prayed for Mokuba to wait for him. He was willing to do anything to get his little brother back. As he thought about defeating Pegasus, the door across the walkway slowly opened and there stood Pegasus with two suits. Kaiba's anger boiled at the sight of Pegasus' smirk. How dare the American find the CEO's situation amusing? Stepping forward, Pegasus said in his cheerful voice, "Welcome! Welcome once again to my castle, Kaiba-boy! I must admit, I have been waiting for the day I would battle a proud duelist like you here in my Duelist Kingdom!" Chuckling at Kaiba's cold look, the silver-haired American stated, "Don't you worry one bit, Kaiba-boy. All you have to do is defeat me in this duel and you'll get your dear Mokuba-boy back! For now, Kaiba-boy…let's enjoy a great duel!" Looking up, he smiled. "Oh my…it would appear that the four official finalists have arrived."

Despite being focused, Kaiba was curious about who reached the finals so he looked up. To his surprise, Yugi and the gang was standing next to Tiki. He knew that the duel between them had devastated his rival but he did not expect the small duelist to recover this quickly. "Yugi…you found a way into the castle?" Recovering from his surprise, the brunette scoffed. "Of course…I expected no less from my rival."

Turning his attention back, Pegasus said almost gleefully, "Now let's begin, Kaiba-boy."

Nodding, Kaiba crouched down and opened his suitcase, looking at his duel disk prototypes. With these prototypes, the brunette was certain that he would win against Pegasus' mind trick. With that in mind, the CEO threw one of the prototypes to Pegasus, making sure that he threw hard enough to cause a little pain to the American. "Pegasus! For our duel, I will be fighting you with these duel disks!"

To his disgust, Pegasus started to examine the disk as if he was a two year old discovering a new gadget. Playing around with it, Pegasus made Kaiba even angrier by asking, "Is this supposed to be a fan? No, it can't be: it's too heavy for that. Maybe you're supposed to toss it like this?"

With that, he rolled the disk down the walkway like a bowling ball, making the two suits give chase until they caught it. Having his patience worn even thinner, Kaiba barked, "Stop screwing around, you bastard!"

Taking a breath as if he had just ran a mile, Pegasus smiled. "Very well. We can use those if you want. I'll allow the use of the duel disks…on one condition: someone else will operate it in my place. Of course, he'll follow the memo I give him for whatever cards he happens to hold. Therefore, it will not change the fact that I and I alone am your opponent. Understand?"

Kaiba could not believe it. He wanted to defeat Pegasus, not Pegasus' lackey. "You bastard…fight me one on one!"

Ignoring Kaiba's outburst, Kaiba clapped his hands twice. "Bring out the person who will play in my stead."

Seconds later, the doors Pegasus came through opened, revealing another suit and the duelist substitute, chained to the suit. Looking at the stand-in, Kaiba felt the blood drain from his face: it was Mokuba! Hoping that his little brother was all right, the brunette called out to him. To Kaiba's horror, Mokuba looked at him with the deadest eyes he had ever seen. In fact, he had not seen dead eyes since that morning years ago. Mentally shaking off that memory, Kaiba focused on Mokuba and started to shake. What had happened to the boy he vowed to protect? Acting as if nothing was wrong, Pegasus asked, "What's wrong? Aren't you glad to have Mokuba-boy as your opponent? At least you know him." Laughing at Kaiba spitting out his name, the silver-haired American revealed a Duel Monster card. "Young Mokuba-boy's soul is sealed in this card."

Pegasus turned it around and the image on the card almost made Kaiba drop from a heart attack: it was a picture of a frightened Mokuba! Whether this was a trick or not was no longer an issue; all Kaiba could see was the resulting damage, the type of damage he never wanted his little brother to go through. Struggling to stay sane from those memories and seeing Mokuba like this, he had no choice but to listen as Pegasus continued to twist the knife. "The Mokuba-boy you see is nothing more than a soulless shell. Nevertheless, he will still respond to the simplest of orders I give him. Kaiba-boy…if you can defeat me, I promise to release Mokuba-boy's soul from the sealed card."

Kaiba almost leapt forward to strangle Pegasus but he knew that, if he did, Pegasus would land on top of the child. "You bastard!"

Turning to the child, Pegasus watched as the suit with the duel disk prototype held it front of the boy. The silver-haired American said calmly, "Now, Mokuba-boy…you will operate the duel disk for me. You understand?"

Without a word, Mokuba took the disk and started to walk forward with the suit. Having enough, Kaiba cried out, "Wait!"

Grinning, Pegasus teased, "What's the matter, Kaiba-boy? You're getting what you want: we'll be using your duel disks in our duel!"

Kaiba lowered his head, unable to look at the dead eyes that were staring at him. He could not believe that Pegasus was telling him to fight against Mokuba. No matter the situation, the idea of battling his little brother was out of the question. Suddenly he was hit with flashbacks of Mokuba when he was younger: waving at Seto with a smile, crying, and happy that he was found. In all of those, Mokuba called Kaiba "Big Brother," a title Kaiba wore with pride. Now, to battle the child who looked up to him…Kaiba closed his eyes. "That's one thing…one thing I can't do!" Taking a deep breath to recover, he stood up and stared at Pegasus with cold but determined eyes. "Very well, Pegasus. I take back using the duel disks."

Pegasus smiled and lowered down to put his hands on Mokuba's shoulders. "Mokuba-boy…it would appear that your beloved big brother does not want to fight you."

Kaiba felt sick at the display before him. But it was over just as quickly as it started as Pegasus stood up and the suit got Mokuba to leave. Having a bad taste in his mouth, the brunette was more determined than ever to destroy Pegasus, even if he was forced to give up his one advantage to the duel. Without the solid image from the duel disk, he knew that Pegasus' mind tricks were going to be in full play. Despite this, the brunette had a mission and he was not about to back down from it. Turning with a smile on his face, Pegasus playfully stated, "Then let's prepare!"

With a snap of his fingers, the walkway split into two, pulling the two men further and further apart. Once they were far enough away, a large arena lowered down and connected to the two walkways. Kaiba continued to glare at Pegasus. For harming Mokuba like he did, the brunette believed that the American deserved nothing less than death. Pegasus stated that they would play by the Kingdom rules. Kaiba did not care how they would duel as he pulled out his deck. Suddenly Tiki called out from the balcony: "Watch out for Pegasus' Dragon Capture Jar!"

Kaiba looked up as Yugi added that even the Blue Eyes would be useless against it. Kaiba looked at his rival with a numb look. He was surprised that Yugi was giving him advice but the brunette was happy for it. While he lost an advantage in his duel disks, he now knew at least one card in Pegasus' deck to look out for, especially since the Mutou siblings now understood why Kaiba crossed the line in their duel. However, as much as the advice was needed, Kaiba was determined to win on his own terms. Turning back to the duel, Kaiba stated, "Yugi, Tiki, I'll take your advice into consideration. But I trust my cards!"

As he set his deck in its correct position, he heard Pegasus comment, "Foolish…ignoring someone's advice…"

Kaiba stood up tall. "No matter the opponent, no matter the duel, I will always fight alongside my Blue Eyes! And I will defeat you!" Peeking at Tiki, the brunette thought of himself, 'Here's the true character you wanted to watch.'

Noting that it almost looked like she was blushing, Kaiba drew his cards and the duel began. Pegasus took the first turn, putting a monster face down in Defense Mode and putting another card down for later. Kaiba looked at the card and wondered if it was a magic or trap card. Either way, there was numerous possibilities on how the card would change the tide of the duel. As he drew another card, he looked down at his hand. He was grateful that he already had a Blue Eyes. Thanks to how powerful it was, all he had to do was summon it and start his part of the duel with an all-out assault, letting Pegasus know that he was not playing around. But he remembered Yugi and Tiki warning him about the Dragon Capture Jar. Was that the card that Pegasus put down? Deciding to wait, Kaiba set a card face down and summoned Rude Kaiser (ATK 1800). Off Kaiba's orders, the monster attacked and destroyed Pegasus' defense cartoon monster. Pegasus acted like he was devastated at the defeat but Kaiba brushed it off as he ended his turn; he knew Pegasus was fooling around. Sure enough, Pegasus worriedly asked, "Kaiba-boy's monster really has 1800 Attack Points? My…it exceeded my monster's Defense Points by 200." He drew a card and immediately brightened. "Wow! This card could do the trick!"

He summoned Parrot Dragon (ATK 2000) and had it attack. But Kaiba was prepared with his magic card Mesmeric Control. Ignoring Pegasus acting like he was shocked, the brunette activated the card, stopping Parrot Dragon and reducing its Attack Points to 1200. Feeling his pride and anger grow, the brunette had Rude Kaiser attack and destroy the cartoon monster, reducing Pegasus' Life Points to 1400. Seeing Pegasus act worried again, Kaiba stared at the American with hard eyes. Was his opponent even taking this seriously? Not caring either way, the brunette drew a card and considered his options. He made a lot of progress in these early turns, which meant that Pegasus probably did not have the Dragon Capture Jar in his hand as of yet; in fact, his instincts told him that Pegasus did not have the card at the moment. Having enough, Kaiba was about to play a card when Pegasus suddenly and loudly said, "STOP!"

Kaiba froze. Did Pegasus just tell him to stop? A sinister smile started to form on the silver-haired American's face as he said, "Just stay there…don't move…and don't show me that card. I want to activate a trap card against that card you're about to play. You see, the card I played face-down was the Prophecy card. This card allows me to guess the Attack Points of a monster in your hand, whether it's 'big' or 'small.' If I am right, I get the card."

Kaiba was shaking with anger until he heard that Pegasus would get the card if he was right. He wanted to demand a further explanation but Pegasus started the guess: "I predict it has more than 2000 Attack Points, making it big!" Seeing Kaiba's shocked look, Pegasus closed his eyes and twisted the knife. "But, you know…that's not enough to prove this to you…so I'll predict even further. That card…has 3000 Attack Points and is your most trusted card: the Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

Kaiba could not believe it: not only was Pegasus right about the Attack Points, he knew what the card was! The CEO started to shake with anger; he knew that Pegasus saw his hand somehow and was using the trick to psych him out. He did not want to be on the receiving end of a mind game, especially since he had to follow the rules of the game, trick or not. He put the card on the board and had to watch the square flip over to deliver the card to Pegasus. Blocking out the silver-haired American's taunt of asking Kaiba how it felt to have his most trusted card stolen, the brunette tried to figure out exactly what happened. It was incredible that Pegasus had a card that could take an opponent's card and that he had it exactly when he needed it. Not only had Pegasus taken Mokuba, he now had one of his Blue-Eyes and then…that thought brought Kaiba back to the game. Pegasus had the most powerful monster in the game, one that could inflict serious damage if played. He had a job to do so he put Rude Kaiser in Defense Mode and ended his turn, hoping to find a way out of this corner. Pegasus smirked. "My turn now."

Pegasus drew a card and eventually put down a face-down card and a monster in defense mode after taking a moment to consider his options. While he was shaken, Kaiba decided to take his revenge during his next turn. With Mokuba's future in mind, he played Saggi and put the virus card face-down. He then stared down Pegasus, silently daring him to attack so that the virus would obliterate his deck. While waiting, the brunette heard the gang comment about the combo and hoped that they would not give away his combo. As it turned out, however, they did not need to because Pegasus was already prepared. The silver-haired American activated his face-down card, which turned out to be the magic card Dark Energy, which doubled the Attack Points for all Dark Monsters in play. Kaiba was stunned: once again, Pegasus was already two steps ahead of him! He felt almost hopeless as he watched Saggi's ATK points double to 1200, thus destroying the Virus within itself (the Virus card needed a host with 1000 ATK or less to work). Almost gleefully, Pegasus said, "That Virus is destroyed!"

Feeling his anger rise by the second, Kaiba could not believe that even his Virus Death Combo was defeated. He could have said that Pegasus saw it when Kaiba battled "Yugi" but the fact that Pegasus put down a card that would stop the combo before Kaiba even put it into effect really messed with Kaiba's head. Pegasus smiled, as if enjoying watching Kaiba squirm, and flipped Dark Rabbit (ATK 1100) into play. As the monster came into play, Pegasus pointed out, "Guess what? It's a Dark Monster too, which makes its Attack double!"

Kaiba gritted his teeth. He left Saggi in Attack Mode when he played his monster to make the bait more appealing for Pegasus to attack but now Saggi was an open target. Because of that, Kaiba had no choice but to watch as Saggi was destroyed and his life points were cut in half. With his side of the field open, the brunette suddenly found that he was having trouble breathing. With sweat running down his face, he tried to figure out how to get out of his corner but his fear kept his mind temporarily clouded. Was Pegasus really reading his mind and using that power to duel? Realizing what he was thinking, he quickly shook his head. He was not going to let his fear give him irrational ideas. To combat his thoughts, he drew a card but he was not awarded. He knew that he currently did not have any monster to defeat the Dark Rabbit, especially since its power had doubled with Dark Energy. Taking a deep breath, he played a face-down monster card next to Rude Kaiser and ended his turn. Pegasus quietly drew a card and then asked a random question: "Kaiba-boy…do you like cartoons?"

Kaiba stared at Pegasus. Did his enemy seriously just ask him that? Was this a joke or another mind game? Pegasus' curious look turned to disappointment. "Oh? You don't? That's too bad." Clasping his hands together, he happily chirped, "I love them! When I was a young boy, I used to watch my favorite cartoon all the time, 'Funny Rabbit'! All those characters…oh, they were the best! In fact, back then, they were my best friends! Even to this day, they still run around the garden of my heart."

Growing impatient, Kaiba barked, "What's your point?!"

Pegasus chuckled softly. "They would never betray me."

Kaiba growled, "What the hell are you up to?"

Pegasus continued, "And they can never die…to show you what I mean, I'll invite you into their world!"

Kaiba had no idea what Pegasus was talking about, convinced that it was all talk, until Pegasus played the magic card Toon World. The card created a book with a pop-up figure of a dark village on the field, catching Kaiba off-guard. He then realized something: Toon World was on the field but Dark Rabbit was not. Having enough of Pegasus and his games, Kaiba spat out, "Where the hell did your Dark Rabbit go?!"

Pegasus simply closed his eyes. "All my cards are now Toons…and they now live here. If you can't see them, that means they are hiding in their world." As the book started to glow green, Pegasus seemed to get a little giddy. "Look…he's about to show himself."

He then ordered the Dark Rabbit to attack. Suddenly, Dark Rabbit popped out of Toon World in a cloud of pink smoke, startling everyone, and destroyed the face-down Battle Ox. Giggling insanely, the monster jumped back into the book and the book closed, making Pegasus smile. "Hey, hey, hey…looks like Dark Rabbit has gone back to hiding in the picture book. Oh! I forgot to tell you: once Town World is closed, none of your monsters can damage mine."

Kaiba was stunned: Toon World was the perfect shield! This duel was unnerving when he had to deal with Pegasus' mind trick but now he had to deal with a magic card that protected Pegasus' monsters from all kinds of attacks. Trying to gather himself, he drew a card and set it face down, stalling for time. Chuckling, Pegasus looked down at his hand and teased, "Kaiba-boy…let me show you something interesting…with the card I got from you."

As he revealed the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Kaiba felt his heart skip a beat. This was the moment he had been dreading: being attacked by the dragon he revered. Pegasus played it in Attack Mode, making the brunette tremble with anger. How dare Pegasus rub it in his face that he was controlling Kaiba's prized possession? But what happened next almost made Kaiba throw up: Toon World opened up and sucked the dragon into its pages with a cloud of pink smoke, only to open back up seconds later to reveal a chibi-sized, cartoon-looking Blue Eyes White Dragon. In his shock, all Kaiba could utter was, "Blue…Eyes…"

Pegasus smiled. "All my monsters are residents of Toon World; I believe I told you this already. So tell me: what do you think? Isn't it more adorable and lovable than ever?"

No one answered, stunned at the transformation. Kaiba could hear the gang commenting but their words fell on deaf ears: he himself was disgusted by how the dragon looked. He had always seen Blue Eyes White Dragon as a regal dragon, one that no one in their right mind should mess with, and Pegasus reduced it to a giggling cartoon. As if seeing Kaiba's look and wanting to make him feel even worse, Pegasus ordered the Blue Eyes Toon Dragon to attack and destroy Rude Kaiser, which it did with a pink version of its electric attack. Feeling the power of the attack made Kaiba mentally shudder: as disgusting as the Toon looked, it was still as powerful as its regular version. Shrugging a little, Pegasus teased, "What is this I feel in your heart? Could it be…anger?"

Kaiba was angry but he knew from years of experience that anger did not make the path clearer so he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Pegasus…it would appear that you already know the cards in my hand…in that case…" He put aside his entire hand, surprising Pegasus, before continuing, "From now on, I will play the first card I draw. In other words…I will not know my card until I play it on the field in Attack Mode!"

From the balcony, the brunette heard Tristan comment that Kaiba must have given up all hope to resort to something as risky as this and Joey stated that he almost understood what Kaiba was doing by betting everything on his next card. While he did not like that Joey was the one who understood what he was doing, Kaiba knew that Tristan was also right: he had nothing left right now so he was relaying on pure luck. Even though he did not believe in luck, it was the only option he had for combating Pegasus' mind trick. He only hoped that it would work. Grabbing the top card, he played it on the field, betting everything on what he drew. To his relieved luck, it was his second Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000)! No one could believe Kaiba's luck; while he remained stone-faced, Kaiba could hardly believe it himself. Whether it was luck or simply how the deck was arranged, the brunette did not care: he now had what he needed to take back control of the duel. "Pegasus! You said you could feel my anger! You're wrong: I'll teach you what anger really is!"

Clenching his teeth in anger, he was about to call his dragon to attack when Pegasus' clapping stopped him. "Wonderful, Kaiba-boy! To draw another Blue-Eyes…talk about lucky!"

Kaiba clenched his fist so tight, it started to shake. The more Pegasus spoke, the longer Kaiba had to look at the Toon abomination that once was his Blue Eyes. "Pegasus…changing my proud monster into that…that…that disgusting thing…! I'll never forgive you, you bastard!"

Pegasus mockingly chirped an "oh no," annoying Kaiba even more. Having enough, Kaiba ordered his Blue Eyes to attack the Toon, wanting to put his first dragon out of its misery. But the Toon grinned and bent its body around the attack, evading it! Kaiba could not believe what he say, just as startled as the gang. As the Toon laughed in its triumph, Pegasus pointed out, "Funny Rabbit aired a total of 583 episodes (not enough in my opinion). Over all, the bad guy fired a grand total of 26,000 bullets at the good guy…none of which ever hit Funny Rabbit! It's truly a miracle!" Kaiba raised his eyebrow, wondering what the point of that comment was, as Pegasus added, "As long as Toon World is on the board, every card I play from now on will become a Toon Card! After all…Toons are the perfect form of being!"

From the balcony, Kaiba could hear Yugi voice what he was thinking: if Toons could dodge any kind of attack, there was no way for him to defeat the Toons! As he considered his now even more limited options, he overheard Yugi tell everyone that, while he heard about the Toon cards, they were never released to the public, making them even rarer than his Blue Eyes. The brunette silently cursed Pegasus for using his special cards, especially since only Pegasus himself knew how to defeat them. Crossing his arms, the brunette took a deep breath and tried to work on a new strategy, especially since he had to wait to Pegasus to take his turn; he was willing to wait since a new move could mean a new road to take. What he knew was that, with his cards discarded, Pegasus could not use his mind trick to read the brunette's hand. Just then, Pegasus made his move, playing a magic card. Before realizing what it was, Kaiba was suddenly blinded by a bright light coming from the Toon World book. When the light dimmer low enough to not be painful, the brunette looked up and saw a white castle in the middle of the book. As if proud of himself, Pegasus proclaimed, "Behold, a new page in Toon World: Shine Palace! The light coming from this beautiful palace powers up all light-attribute monsters by 500 points!"

Kaiba could not believe it. Every single turn Pegasus took made Kaiba's situation worse. "A new page?!"

Pegasus nodded with glee. "Yes! Not only is this a new page in Toon World, it's also the chapter of your defeat! Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, receive the light's energy and power up!"

As the palace started to shine bright again, the Toon received 500 more Attack Points and showed it off by flexing its arms until they exploded like volcanoes. Kaiba gritted his teeth until they hurt. He was not sure what he was madder about: the fact that the Toon had more Attack Points than his dragon thanks to yet another card that only Pegasus had or the fact that his first dragon was looking more and more disgusting with its cartoonish ways. Grinning, Pegasus ordered the Toon to attack and the Toon obeyed. But Kaiba was prepared, playing his magic card Negate Attack. His dragon was protected from the attack thanks to an invisible barrier but it was only for the one turn. Kaiba was not about to lose another dragon, whether it was to an attack or to the Toon World's transformation.

He reached for his deck, hoping to get another card that would help him turn the duel around, especially with him still continuing to summon the first card he drew. He was hoping since he knew, if he did not get such a card, he would for sure lose. The idea of losing both the duel and, in turn, his little brother made his hardened heart hurt a little. He suddenly felt like Mokuba was with him at that moment. Letting the feeling simmer in his heart, he reached for the card, feeling Mokuba reach for it as well, and drew. Once again, his deck gave him a miracle. Feeling his resolve become stronger at the sight of the card, Kaiba played it immediately, revealing to everyone that it was the magic card Shadow Spell. Relishing in Pegasus' look of shock, the brunette watched as chains appeared and wrapped around the Toon, trapping it and reducing its Attack Points by 700. Smirking angrily, Kaiba hissed, "Looks like not even Toons can move once bound by Shadow Spell! Prepare yourself!"

Off its master's order, the dragon attacked and destroyed the wriggling Toon, leaving Pegasus with 1200 life points. As he stood a little taller, Kaiba heard Tiki squeal. "Yay! He finally defeated that creepy Toon!"

Too upset to react to what she said, Kaiba clenched his fists until they shook. "Blue Eyes…I couldn't let you live as a pathetic Toon! I've put you out of your misery!"

As he lowered his head and closed his eyes tightly, Kaiba was surprised to feel a sense of relief, a similar feeling he felt whenever someone told him "thank you." He was about to question it when Pegasus ruined the moment. "Thank you, Kaiba-boy. Just now…I felt the love you have for your Blue Eyes in your heart. Since I created Duel Monsters, I'll take that love as a compliment." Kaiba felt the urge to flip Pegasus off but the silver-haired American continued, "But…that love of yours…will be the trigger for your defeat."

Kaiba wondered what Pegasus meant. He found out very quickly: Pegasus played the Dragon Capture Jar! Feeling helpless again, Kaiba had no choice but to watch his second dragon get sucked into the jar. What made it harder to watch was that his dragon struggled to stay out of the jar and screamed the whole way but was sucked in nonetheless. Now Kaiba was starting to see red: how dare Pegasus steal his second dragon. He was so mad, he barely heard Pegasus say that the jar absorbed the Defense Points of the Blue Eyes. All he knew was that he had to destroy the jar before the second Blue Eyes was used. He drew his card but saw that his luck had finally run out so he played the monster in Defense Mode. At his turn, Pegasus placed a card face down for later and played the Dragon Piper, making the red Kaiba saw grow brighter. "How dare you plan to revive my Blue Eyes as your servant!"

Pegasus chuckled. "But of course. But that's not all: I'll turn it into a Toon as well to deliver the final blow. With that…your ending will truly be miserable."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes and snarled, contorting his face into a death glare. "You bastard! I'll crush that Dragon Piper before I'll let that happen!"

His anger blinding him, he flipped Sword Stalker into Attack Mode (ATK 2000) and ordered it to attack the Dragon Piper. But he realized too late that he made a big mistake as Pegasus activated the magic card Doppelganger. With it, Pegasus copied the Virus card and infected the Dragon Piper with the virus. For the first time in a long time, Kaiba felt fear and regret in his heart: he let his anger blind him and he was paying dearly for it. There was nothing he could but watch the Sword Stalker attack and destroy the Dragon Piper, releasing the virus. He then looked at his deck, shocked by how quickly the duel escalated. With one anger-fueled move, Kaiba destroyed his entire deck. Pegasus smirked and pointed out, "As I know…almost all of your monsters are powerful with brute strength."

Everyone was shocked that a single move destroyed Kaiba. While he still had life points, he only had one card left, thus making him lose. Feeling the boulder weigh heavier on his shoulders, Kaiba numbly played his last card, Monster Reborn. All he could do was revive the one monster that was untouched by the virus, Saggi the Dark Clown. Pegasus smiled coldly. "I praise your ability to play out this game until the very end. But let's not forget…if I defeat that card on my turn, I will win!"

Kaiba stared numbly at Pegasus, barely hearing what he said. Murmuring to himself, he said, "Mokuba…forgive me…" He gave a side-glance to Tiki and added, "Tiki…I hope you saw what you wanted to see…"

He then numbly watched as Pegasus summoned Bickuribox (ATK 2300) and had it attack Saggi. All Kaiba said to himself was, "Mokuba…Yugi…Tiki…goodbye…"

If he was not so upset at failing his brother, Kaiba would have wondered if he was wishing Tiki farewell as well. After Bickuribox retreated after ripping Saggi to shreds, Pegasus twisted the knife in Kaiba's heart by pointing out, "Well, now you have no cards left in your hand to play. Thus…you lose." Kaiba growled as Pegasus continued, "Kaiba-boy…I assume you know what it means to lose a game. The loser…loses everything: what is precious to them…and themselves." With that, Pegasus reached into his jacket and pulled out a blank Duel Monsters card. "You shall suffer the same fate as your brother!"

Kaiba froze at the mention of Mokuba's fate but he felt his body tense up as Pegasus' golden eye glowed brightly. The world started to get darker and quieter when a familiar young voice rang out in the brunette's head: 'WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HIM?!' The young voice was the last thing Kaiba heard before everything went black.

_Everyone was devastated to see Kaiba's soul stolen by Pegasus' Millennium Eye, Yugi and Tiki especially. Tiki could not believe that the man she chose was taken from her and Yugi's heart went out to Kaiba, who put everything on the line to help his little brother. Now Yugi had more reasons than ever to defeat Pegasus_


	8. Rescue Mission

Chapter 8

Rescue Mission

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers. As how Mokuba refers Kaiba by, I'm going with the Japanese because it sounds better than the English translation.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

_Dark…_

_Quiet…_

_Stillness…_

_Nothingness…_

Kaiba opened his eyes and realized he was in the fetal position. Before he could wonder why, he looked at his hands and saw he was a child. Wondering about why he was young, he remembered his defeat against Pegasus and figured it out: he had not felt this low since this age. He looked up and saw he was surrounded by darkness. "Am I dead?"

He smirked a little. He figured death was not a big deal and this was proving it. But being dead would leave Mokuba alone. Once again, he failed his little brother. He wanted to return to his body but he felt stuck. He could not even twitch. He was about to fight when he heard a voice call out. _Turn around._

The voice sounded familiar; for a moment, he thought it was his mother. He did not want to see his mother like this, where he broke his promise to look after his little brother, so he ignored the voice. "Forgive me," he said a little tersely.

The voice giggled, which surprised Kaiba. His mother would either laugh or chuckle but she never giggled; also, the giggle was too high-pitched. As his body turned around, his legs loosened up until they were straight and his body aged back to his current age. Looking up, he saw a star off in the distance. Surrounded by darkness, the star was a little glimmer but it was there. He stared and noticed the star coming closer. He could do nothing but wait because his body was frozen again. The star continued forward until it was in front of him.

Kaiba looked at the star and noticed an aura around it, one warm and very familiar. He wanted to touch it but could not. As he stared at it, he felt calm, a feeling he was not used to. Suddenly the star flashed, blinding him.

* * *

He lifted his head and found himself in a dungeon. Immediately, he realized he was still alive and that meant one thing: "Mokuba…"

* * *

As the sun started to set, Mokuba wandered around the courtyard under the eye of the eight friends, calling out to Kaiba. He grew more and more worried with each call but he went silent when the metal doors open. To his relief, it was Kaiba. The older Kaiba started to come forward but Mokuba raced forward and hugged him, crying heavy tears. Kaiba smiled softly, making Tiki blush a little, and let Mokuba cry his emotions out, thinking to himself, 'You are safe…that's all that matters.'

Once Mokuba calmed down, Kaiba lowered down to Mokuba's eyelevel. Sniffling, Mokuba pulled out his Duel Monster locket with Kaiba's picture and proudly said, "Nii-sama, I protected KaibaCorp…just like you said."

Kaiba smiled proudly. "I know."

When Kaiba pulled out his locket with Mokuba's picture, Mokuba giggled quietly. "I bet they had no idea this was the key card."

Kaiba nodded. "Mokuba, you did well. You protected our company. I'm proud of you." He then stood up and looked at Yugi. "Yugi, you saved my brother. For that, I owe you."

Yugi slightly shook his head. "It was nothing."

Kaiba then turned serious. "But never forget: our duel is not over yet." Yugi agreed and Kaiba added, "I look forward to duel you again."

Having said his piece, he turned to leave but paused when he saw Tiki looking at him. Tiki blushed before she could stop herself, a blush that grew when Kaiba nodded to her. Remembering she told him she wanted to see his true self when he battled Pegasus, she nodded back and Kaiba started to leave with Mokuba. Now that Pegasus was backing off and his company was safe, Kaiba's next step would be taking care of the five traitors.

* * *

Two days later, Kaiba and Mokuba were in the boardroom facing the Big Five and the elder brother was furious. "I bet you were not counting me showing my face here again! It is clear that you five helped Pegasus in his attempted takeover of my company."

Mokuba agreed, wanting to get his two cents in. "Yes! Because of you bastards, we…" He could not continue, remembering the soulless experience.

Kaiba's eye grew ice cold. "This act of treason cannot and will not be forgiven. As president of KaibaCorp, I hereby fire each and every one of you!"

Gansley, an old, balding man, stood up. "Please! Wait!"

Kaiba gave an emotionless look. "In fact, the mere sight of you makes me physically ill!"

Gansley quickly said, "We did what we did because you lost to Mutou Yugi."

Kaiba growled at them. He was about to yell at them to leave when Johnson, the brown-haired man with glasses to Gansley's left, calmly stated, "Master Seto, you must understand: the only reason we agreed to work with Pegasus in the first place was to save this company's reputation."

Sitting back down, Gansley nodded. "It was in the best interest for our reputation. In fact, in order to continue saving it, we developed a new Duel Monsters-inspired adventure game."

The Kaiba brothers were surprised to hear that. Mokuba asked, "Adventure game? Really?"

Clasping his fingers in front of his mouth, Gansley nodded. "Correct. Right now, why don't you play a game with us? You can gamble on your firing us while you play. If we do indeed lose, we will humbly and quietly accept our loss; however, if we win, we keep our positions."

Kaiba chuckled. "I see. You're challenging me. Very well. As you know, I accept ANY game."

Turning on his heel, he left with Mokuba. As they went down in the elevator, Mokuba demanded, "Nii-sama, why'd you accept?! It's a trap!"

Kaiba stared down at Mokuba. "I am aware."

Mokuba paused, confused. "Then why?"

Kaiba looked out at the rainy city. "I am going to make sure they never even think of getting their revenge against me." Just then, the elevator reached the desired floor and the brothers walked out, Kaiba adding, "I'm going to destroy them in a way they will never forget and demonstrate my power over them!"

Finding the room, Kaiba put in the access code and walked into the room. In the center was a virtual simulation pod, with wires extending into four different computer stations. His mind still relishing the idea of destroying the Big Five, he sat in the chair. Two ear phones pressed against his ear, a vision helmet covered his head, and two shoulder straps pushed him against the seat. An image of an open drawer appeared on the screen and a voice in the ear phones said, _Insert cards into Deck Case._

Kaiba followed the instructions. Once the deck was in, the pod spun for a moment and closed its door. The voice spoke again: _Position locked. Beginning game. Standby._

Growing nervous, Mokuba spoke into the microphone. "Nii-sama, don't do this. This doesn't feel right."

Kaiba glared at Mokuba. "Just start the game, Mokuba!" Hearing Mokuba hesitate, Kaiba growled, "No matter what, I will win!"

Taking a deep breath, Mokuba pulled down on the lever.

* * *

Kaiba found himself being pulled towards a rainbow of light. While his thirst for revenge was still in mind, he was also curious about the game. When the teleportation was complete, he found himself in the middle of a forest. Feeling something on his left wrist, he looked down and saw a Duel Monster card holder that was similar to his Duel Disk prototype, complete with a life point gauge of 2000. He then started walking until he met the first monster, Two-Headed King Rex, which showed the ATK of 1600 above it. Kaiba glared. "Challenging me to THIS level?!"

He would not accept any delays from his vengeance so he summoned Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000) and quickly destroyed the dinosaur. But he noticed a blurred figure jumping from tree to tree. The figure threw a card; Kaiba, thinking it was another challenge, had his dragon attack. However, the card activated when Blue Eyes attacked, summoning the Dragon Capture Jar. To Kaiba's horror, the jar sucked in the White Dragon. Before the brunette could react, however, the figure jumped down from the trees, revealing itself to be the Armed Ninja (ATK 300), and threw a net over Kaiba.

* * *

The pod suddenly erupted with blinding electricity, temporarily blinding Mokuba. He did see, however, Kaiba being electrocuted and passing out. "Nii-sama!"

When the electricity cleared, Mokuba ran to the pod and opened it. Growing more and more worried, he tried to shake his brother away but Kaiba was out cold. "Nii-sama! Wake up! Please!"

Suddenly the door and emergency door closed, sealing the brothers in, and a voice rang out. "And so ends the president, trapped inside the game." Mokuba turned and saw Johnson's face on the screen. "Unless you win the game, Master Seto will remained trapped in the game."

Gansley added with triumph in his voice, "And KaibaCorp will remain ours! Mokuba, be a good boy and allow us to take you hostage again. It'll be better for you if you cooperate."

Mokuba looked at Kaiba, his little mind racing. As he heard the key pad activating, he made a decision: he took Kaiba's deck and escaped through the vent.

* * *

At the game shop, Solomon opened a box for the group to see. "Here we are! Your new cards!"

Joey grinned widely. "Sweet! Thanks a lot!"

Just then, the door opened. Everyone looked and saw an exhausted, soaked Mokuba. "Y…Yugi…" was all he could whisper.

* * *

Minutes later, Mokuba was dried, sipping on warm milk, and told everyone what happened, leaving them stunned. Yugi repeated, "Kaiba's stuck in the Adventure Game?!"

Tiki finished, "And he can't return if he loses?"

Tea shook her head in disbelief. "That's not a game!"

Mokuba stared down at his milk. "Yugi…my Nii-sama…please save Nii-sama."

Merina grimaced a little. "We're talking about going up against the top executives of KaibaCorp."

Solomon nodded. "You're right. This is a very serious matter."

Mokuba's eyes started to tear up. "Nii-sama's…true dream…to build Kaiba Land all over the world…so kids can be happy."

Everyone was surprised, Joey especially. "Kaiba actually had a dream like that?"

Tiki mentally smiled. 'I was right…there is more to Seto than meets the eye…'

Mokuba nodded. "That's why Nii-sama works so hard for KaibaCorp." A few tears formed as he continued, "No one realizes how much he puts into it…"

Seeing the tears, Tiki hugged Mokuba and looked at Yugi. "We have to help."

Joey scratched his head and admitted, "As much as I don't like him, none of us are the type to just abandon him."

Yugi nodded and told the surprised child, "We know how you and your brother are and we're going to save him no matter what!"

Mokuba smiled his thanks.

* * *

A while later, the group and Mokuba snuck into the developing Kaiba Land and into the Adventure Game section. To Mokuba's relief, there were four simulation pods waiting for them. Merina looked at Mokuba. "Are you sure they'll be on the same system as the one Kaiba was tricked into using?"

Mokuba said, "They should be." He went to the computer and smiled. "They're working; we got access!"

As Mokuba worked, Joey counted and noticed, "Only four people can go? Well, definitely me and Yugi…"

Tristan put Joey in a headlock. "And who are the other two, wise-a—?"

Mokuba announced, "I'm going!"

Breaking away from Tristan, Joey told the child, "If you lose, you can't come back, you know."

Mokuba adamantly said, "Without Nii-sama, the world has no meaning!"

Joey grinned. "That takes care of it."

Tiki chirped, "I'm going too! I have to help rescue Seto!" Joey was too busy telling Tristan to watch over his body to notice what Tiki called Kaiba. But Yugi and Merina noticed and gave her a look, making her blush. "I mean, I want to help rescue Kaiba too!"

Merina raised her eyebrow, not convinced. "You sure about this?"

Tiki blushed deeper and looked at the pod. "Yes! Let's hurry, though. We can't waste time."

Yugi nodded and the four of them got into the pods. Tea worriedly said, "You guys better return."

Joey waved her off. "Relax, would ya?"

Yugi smiled. "We'll be back before you know it and with Kaiba."

Tiki smiled, a smile that softened when Merina told her, "Tiki…don't do anything stupid, all right?"

Tiki raised her eyebrow. "What do you mean, stupid?"

Merina did not get a chance to explain as Tristan turned on the game at Joey's request.

* * *

Walking in the game, Yugi looked at the deck holder on his left wrist. "I wonder if this game is related to Duel Monsters."

Tiki shrugged. "Knowing Kaiba, I'd say so."

Yugi asked, "What rules do we need to follow? We know nothing so be careful."

Joey waved it off. "You don't have to tell me twice." He then noticed, "Why don't you have a deck, Tiki?"

Tiki looked at her bare wrist. "I've never played the game and I only have one card that's special to me so maybe that's why."

Mokuba looked at Tiki. "What card is that?"

Tiki was about to answer when they came to a cliff and noticed a graveyard below them. Though nervous, they continued to walk, eventually making it to graveyard. Looking around, Yugi noted, "Doesn't feel like your ordinary graveyard."

Joey looked around and noticed, "This place looks familiar…" Suddenly a ghostly groan sounded. Joey looked and screamed in terror, "Zombie!"

The three looked behind them and saw Armored Zombie (ATK 1500), Zombie Dragon (ATK 1600), and Clown Zombie (ATK 1350). After getting over his initial fright, Joey took a closer look and grinned. "Duel Monsters! In that case…" he drew a card before embarrassingly asking, "…now what do I do?"

The three humans were annoyed until the three zombies attacked. Mokuba summoned Rude Kaiser (ATK 1800) by holding up the card into the air; Yugi followed suit with Dark Magician (ATK 2500). Off their orders, the two monsters attacked and destroyed the zombies. Joey blinked dumbly. "So that's all you have to do?" Suddenly the zombies reappeared, making Joey growl. "Damn, they're persistent!"

He summoned Flame Swordsman (ATK 1800) and ordered him to attack. But the blond failed to remember that, when resurrected, zombie monsters get stronger. Yugi watched in horror as Armored Zombie's ATK rose to 1650, Zombie Dragon's became 1760, and Clown Zombie's went to 1450. "Stop your attack, Joey!"

Joey did not react in time: Flame Swordsman destroyed Zombie Dragon, who resurrected with ATK 1920 and destroyed Flame Swordsman. Remembering, Tiki asked, "Remember how you defeated Bonz back in Duelist Kingdom? Use that card again!"

Looking at the zombies' point gauge, Joey remembered: zombie monsters have no DEF. He activated Shield and Sword, switching the monsters ATK and DEF, and Yugi had Dark Magician destroy the zombie monsters for good. Everyone celebrated and then noticed a small card floating near each of them. They each took one and Mokuba noticed, "Looks like we earned some gold."

Not a duelist and, therefore, did not get a gold card, Tiki giggled. "It really is like a video game."

Seeing he had 1830 life points, Joey whined with worry. "My Life Points haven't gone up!"

Mokuba looked at his life point gauge. "I get it. It's our life in here."

Joey whined again. "What happens if it hits zero?" He then noticed something behind one of the tombstones. "What's that?"

Everyone approached and saw a very tiny fairy. Yugi asked Tiki, "Is that a sprite?"

Tiki giggled and nodded. "She's so cute!"

Joey brightened. "When sprites appear in games, it's almost always a hint!"

As if proving Joey right, the sprite flew down a path leading out of the graveyard. Everyone followed, trying to keep her in sight. But they lost her when they emerged from the forest. Joey cursed their luck but Mokuba noticed something and ran to the cliff's edge. The rest followed him and saw a village.

* * *

When they reached the town, the four walked around, trying to figure out where to go next. Joey, however, almost got sick from the sight of roasted lizard. "How can you eat those?"

Tiki said, "I read once that they taste like chicken."

Joey glared at Tiki in a teasing way. "Then you try first."

Tiki glared back with a smirk. "You're the daring one. You do it."

A few feet away, Yugi gasped in surprise. "Hey, Joey!"

Joey looked at where Yugi and Mokuba and was immediately drawn to the merchant's table they were standing in front of. The merchant was selling Super Rare cards. Almost drooling, Joey eagerly shouted, "Let's buy!"

Mokuba scoffed. "Forget it. Look at the price."

Joey looked up and paled. "2000 coins?! Hang on, we got those cards from our battle earlier…" He pulled out his prize and yelped in sad surprise. "Five?! No…I want them…"

Yugi smiled in amusement and Tiki giggled. Mokuba, however, was annoyed. "Let's concentrate on finding Nii-sama first."

The four agreed to split up and talk to as many people as possible. About an hour later, they met at the fountain. Yugi asked, "Did you find anything?"

Bright red, Tiki was pulling down her school uniform's skirt. "Yeah. These guys are handsy."

Joey walked up, dragging a dog attached to his behind. "No…ow…nothing…"

Mokuba said, "I found out something." Leading them to the edge of town, he pointed to a distant mountain range. "Some kids I talked to said they saw a stranger being dragged to the Cave of Death in those mountains."

Joey asked, "You think it was Kaiba?"

Mokuba nodded frantically. "Had to be! Those kids also told me the only way to get there is crossing the desert."

Joey chuckled uneasily. "So much for it being easy."

Taking deep breaths, Mokuba and Tiki ran into the desert. Joey and Yugi had no choice but to follow but the group was slowed down by a terrible sandstorm. Rendered almost blind and deaf from the storm, Yugi pleased, "Mokuba, Tiki, we need to go back!"

Tiki shook her head, even though she was struggling to walk against the wind. Able to cover his face with his handkerchief, Mokuba said, "No…not without Nii-sama…"

Suddenly a tornado appeared before them and charged at them.

* * *

The next thing the Mutou siblings knew, they were being shaken awake by Joey. When they sat up, they were surprised by where they were. Seeing their confusion, Joey said, "We were blown all the way back."

Getting to their feet, the siblings looked at Mokuba, who was huddled off to the side. Sighing, Tiki went to him and hugged him. "Hey…we'll get him back, okay?"

Mokuba said nothing. Just then, an old man laughed at them. "Ya can't cross the desert that way."

Leaving Tiki and Mokuba, Joey and Yugi went to the old man and Joey demanded, "You know how we can cross?"

The old man said, "If ya want to cross, ya need the chicken!"

Joey raised his eyebrow. "Say what?" He then remembered which card had a chicken as its image. "You mean the Niwatori card!"

Yugi was glad they were finally getting somewhere. "Sir, do you know how to get the card?"

The old man said, "If ya want to cross, ya need the chicken!"

Joey commented, "You already said that…"

The old man repeated, "If ya want to cross, ya need the chicken!"

Yugi chuckled awkwardly as Joey gripped his hair in annoyance. "Damn idiot keeps repeating…!"

Standing up, Tiki giggled. "Well, every game has its bugs."

Mokuba quietly asked, "So, if we don't get the Niwatori, we can't leave town?"

The boys looked at the child and saw he looked unsure. Yugi smiled. "For now, let's focus on finding out how to get the Niwatori!"

Tiki agreed. "There's never not a solution to a problem in a game! We just have to find it!"

Mokuba smiled.

* * *

After searching, everyone met up again at the fountain. Joey groaned. "Nothing…"

Tiki propped her head up with her hands. "Came up with nothing too…"

Mokuba lowered his head. "So much effort just to get here, too…!"

Joey shrugged. "Maybe it's another bug, like the annoying old man."

Yugi stated, "Either way, we should keep looking." He looked to the left to plan where to go next and saw something that made him stand up and run. Tiki watched her brother. "What's up?"

Yugi did not stop until he reached a sign and he cried out, "Found it!"

Everyone ran to the sign to see what Yugi found. Mokuba read out loud, "'Feeling lucky? Want to become the Champ? Your trial awaits you. Current prize is the Niwatori. Signed, The Ruler and Killer of Darkness.'"

Joey grinned. "All right! We found it!"

They found the arena and the toad-like man in charge of the tournament. "Youse wanna enter? Now, now. Winnin' ain't gonna be easy. It'd be a lot of trouble fer us if a weakling was Champ." He paused to use his long tongue to catch a fly, grossing the four out, before continuing, "Alrighty, yer fine. I'll sign you up. Here's yer mask and mantle."

Taking the cloak and pig mask, Yugi asked, "Isn't that dangerous?"

On his way out, the toad man said, "What do yer mean? Ya just fight each other until one of yer life hits zero."

Tiki cringed. "But we can't do that. If we don't have any more life…"

Joey chuckled. "I'll do it. Look, we all know that we can't return to the real world alive if our life runs out."

Yugi cried out, "Exactly! If your life hits zero…"

Joey laughed and took the clothes. "Shut up, dumbass. You can win without my help. Without you, though, we can't win the game." He winked at the three. "Don't worry 'bout me. This is my own choice."

Tiki said, "Just remember: this isn't a real game. You only have one life."

Joey nodded. "I know."

* * *

Sitting among the arena crowd, Yugi, Mokuba, and Tiki cheered for Joey, now dressed with the cloak and pig mask. After introductions, four masked men brought out the champion, a blond woman with a butterfly mask on. Joey froze. "I gotta fight a woman?!"

The champ jumped from her chair and, after getting her footing, looked at her challenger and laughed. "I'll show you that you're a foolish boy to even think about challenging me!"

Joey growled, "Shut up! I'll reveal you as a fraud champion!"

Determined to make good on his word, Joey summoned Flame Swordsman (ATK 1800); in response, the champion played Harpie Lady (ATK 1300). Scoffing, Joey pointed out, "I've got more Attack Points! Flame Swordsman, attack!"

The monster charged forward, making the champion chuckle. "So naïve. You fell for it!

She activated Mirror Wall, which made Flame Swordsman lose half his ATK. Seeing that combo, however, made the teenagers realize something. Tiki scrunched her face in confusion. "Wait a minute…"

Yugi stood up. "It can't be…"

The champion laughed an obnoxious laugh. "You're about a hundred years too early to be battling me!"

Joey groaned. 'No doubt anymore…' The champion played Rose Whip, raising Harpie Lady's ATK to 1800, and ordered an attack. Joey quickly took off his mask. "Hang on!"

The champion's eyes widened and she stopped the attack. She took off her mask to reveal Mai. "Joey!"

Yugi smiled. "It is Mai!"

Tiki called out, "Mai! Hey!"

When Mai saw them, the three joined her and Joey in the arena. Surprised, Mai asked, "Why the hell are you guys here?"

Joey stated, "You first!"

Mokuba explained, "Nii-sama's been kidnapped!"

Tiki nodded. "He's in danger as long as he's stuck here."

Yugi ended with, "That's why we're here."

Mai did not expect to hear that. "Kaiba's here?"

Yugi nodded and then pointed out, "We're friends; there's no point to us fighting each other."

Suddenly the crowd started to boo and hiss at them not dueling. Joey groaned, "Well, if we want to save Kaiba, I don't think we have a choice, Yugi. The only way to get the Niwatori to cross the desert is to win the tournament."

Mai looked at the Niwatori card next to the toad man. "All you need is that? In that case…" she winked, "…I've been waiting for an excuse to get out of here. Harpie!"

Harpie Lady used her Rose Whip to grab the Niwatori card. The toad man could not react fast enough as Mai took possession of the card. She and Joey tossed their costumes and all five made a run for it with the townspeople close behind them. Having enough, Joey stopped and faced the crowd. "Back off!"

He activated Trap Hole, creating a hole covering the intersection and allowing the gang to escape. They kept running until they reached the desert. Looking at the sandstorm, Mai commented, "Damn, this does impossible to cross on foot."

Joey stated, "Well, use Niwatori, Mai."

Mai nodded and summoned five Niwatoris. Riding them like horses, the group started their trek. As they rode, Joey asked, "So what are you doing here, Mai?"

Mai shrugged a little. "I was invited to play a new game. But, once I started playing, I found out I couldn't get out."

Tiki winced. "So you're also trapped. I'm sorry."

Before Mai could respond, the ground started to tremble and break. Suddenly a giant monster made out of stone and had snakes for limbs, a Sand Stone (ATK 1300), came out of the ground. Joey growled. "Damn, this is annoying!"

He summoned Red Eyes (ATK 2400), who quickly destroyed the Sand Stone. Joey scoffed, "Serves you right, getting in our way."

The storm slowly died down, revealing a temple in front of a nearby mountain. Yugi looked around. "Looks like Sand Stone was the cause of the sandstorm."

Mai looked at them. "So where to now?"

Mokuba answered, "I was told my brother's trapped in the Cave of Death by that mountain."

Tiki looked at the temple. "We're almost there!"

They charged forward with their Niwatoris. As soon as they reached the temple, Mokuba and Tiki dismounted and raced up the temple stairs. Joey shook his head. "He's always so wound up when it comes to Kaiba."

Mai asked, "Then what's Tiki's excuse?"

Neither boy could answer; instead, they dismounted with Mai and followed Mokuba and Tiki inside. Once inside, however, Joey wanted to turn around: the cave was creepy-looking and full of bats. "Why the hell does the Cave of Death have to look like this?!"

Yugi shook his head. "No matter what, we have to keep moving."

Once regrouped with Tiki and Mokuba, the five walked until they reached a large wooden door. They opened it to reveal a large maze. Before they could turn back, the doors closed and locked. Yugi suddenly realized, "This world must have been inspired by duels from Duelist Kingdom."

Tiki looked at the maze. "Then there's an exit somewhere!"

Suddenly there was a scream from within the maze. Yugi looked at Tiki. "Did you hear that?"

Joey eagerly ran past them, pushing them aside as he went. "Hang on! We're coming!"

Angered at being pushed, Mai yelled, "Watch it, Joey!" Calming down, she fumed, "Damn…rushing out so fast just because he heard a girl scream." She put on a sexy pose. "Why would he run off when he has a woman with a nice body right in front of him?"

Tiki looked at Mai. "You want Joey to look at you like that?"

Before Mai could answer, a Labyrinth Tank (ATK 2400) burst through the wall behind them, chasing them into the labyrinth. They quickly caught up to Joey, who was trying to decide whether to go left or right. Yugi cried out, "Joey, run!"

Screaming in fright, Joey turned left and the group followed. But two more Labyrinth Tanks appeared, trapping them in an intersection. Joey wanted to summon a monster but knew he could not defeat three. Yugi told them, "Don't give up yet!"

Joey gave Yugi a look. "Kinda hard not to in this situation…"

Yugi quickly summoned Magical Hats. The Tanks destroyed the hat in front of them as three hats appeared in different parts of the maze. One got up and walked away. Seconds later, the hat disappeared, revealing the group. Tiki sighed in relief. "That was quick thinking, Yugi. Thanks."

Suddenly they heard the Labyrinth Tanks: they were still being hunted. Just as Mai was asking what they should do, the sprite from the graveyard appeared and gestured them to follow her. Tiki asked, "Is she trying to guide us out of here?"

Joey stated, "Sprites do always give helpful hints."

Not as knowledgeable about video games as Joey, Mai said, "Let's follow and check it out."

The group followed until they found another person, a princess based on her dress and tiara. Seeing the sprite, she smiled. "Iru!"

She then noticed the group. Confused, Joey asked, "Mokuba, why are you wearing a dress?"

Mokuba kicked Joey in the behind. "Idiot, I'm right here."

Joey looked between Mokuba and the princess. "But…damn, you two look like twins!"

Trying not to laugh, Tiki murmured, "I hope this is something the Big Five did, not Seto."

Mai looked at Tiki. "What was that?"

Tiki blushed and waved it off. "Nothing!"

Not caring about the resemblance, Mokuba asked the princess. "So were you screaming before?"

She asked, "Who are you guys?"

Groaning, Joey demanded, "Save that for later!" He asked the princess, "Do you know where the exit is?"

The princess shook her head and apologized. Everyone was disappointed but perked up when she said, "But Iru can guide us."

Everyone followed the sprite and eventually found the exit. They ran out of the maze and into Gate Guardian (ATK 3750). Joey commented, "Damn! It's like déjà vu all over again!"

Mai yelled, "What the hell is that?! We don't have a card to beat it!"

Joey waved it off, remembering the last time he and "Yugi" faced this monster. "We'll take him! Yugi!"

Yugi nodded as the combo began: Joey summoned Red Eyes Black Dragon and Yugi drew Summoned Skull and combined the two into Black Skull Dragon (ATK 3200). Mai groaned. "Damn…it's still not enough!"

Tiki giggled. "Oh, ye of little faith…"

Joey chuckled. "Who said we're done?"

He added Dragon Nails to the dragon, raising its ATK to 3900, and the dragon destroyed the Gate Guardian. The princess' eyes widened. "Wow…thank you! How can I ever repay you?"

Joey chuckled. "No worries."

Yugi nodded. "Let's get out of here!"

Tiki nodded. "No need to say that twice!"

Suddenly light from torches appeared ahead and voices calling out to an Adena were heard. The princess lit up as knights and an old woman dressed nobly appeared. The old woman smiled. "Adena, we are so happy you're safe!" She then noticed the group behind them. "Who are your new friends?"

Adena smiled. "They saved my life." She turned to the grinning friends and said, "As a token of my gratitude, I would like to invite you to my castle."

Everyone happily agreed.

* * *

Inside a volcano, Kaiba woke to find himself tied to a cross. "Where…am I?"

A voice rang out. "So you have finally woken up, Kaiba Seto!"

Kaiba looked up to see a Witty Phantom (ATK 1400) rising up from the ground. As the Duel Monster bowed, Kaiba asked, "What are you planning to do with me?"

Witty Phantom put his hat back on. "Come now, it should be obvious! You are a sacrifice for the Five Headed Dragon, the dark god that will plunge the world into darkness and chaos!" He turned and sneered, "However, we need one more sacrifice so I guess you get to live a little longer." He bowed to Kaiba again.

Kaiba growled. "You bastards! Play this game fair and square!"

He hoped the Big Five would hear him but Witty Phantom shook his finger. "Now, now, no need for such nonsense. After all, my job is to dispose of you and by any way I see fit. But, if you're truly dissatisfied, go ahead and alter my programming."

The teasing dare took Kaiba by surprise: Witty Phantom knew he was a computer program? Chuckling darkly, Witty Phantom turned around and left.

* * *

Everyone travelled to Adena's castle by carriage, Adena and her caretaker in one and the group in the other. Taking a breath of relief, Joey said, "That was too close back there. I started to have doubts about making it back."

Mai smiled. "Don't worry. Adena seems reliable."

Yugi nodded and then decided to bring up the observation made earlier: "She does seem to be a character inspired by Mokuba."

Mokuba was surprised. "Really?"

Joey chuckled in a teasing way. "Well, I guess we know how low the Big Five can go…princess!"

Mokuba blushed and growled, "Shut up!"

Tiki looked out the window and gasped. "Look at that!"

Everyone looked and was amazed at the sight of the hillside kingdom. Mokuba took a deep breath. "I hope…here…we can find clues about Nii-sama."

Tiki nodded. "Here's hoping."

* * *

When they arrived, the knights gave their salute to Adena, impressing the group even more. But Yugi was distracted by Iru suddenly landing on his head. Seeing that, Adena chuckled. "Looks like Iru likes you."

Yugi did not know what to say. Nervous, Tiki asked, "So…this huge castle…how people are treating you…does that mean you're…?"

Adena nodded and curtsied a smile. "Yes. I am the queen of this kingdom."

While everyone assumed she was royalty, they did not expect her to be queen.

* * *

Minutes later, everyone was at the banquet hall, enjoying a meal. Mai and Tiki, however, were distracted by Joey's animalistic eating. Mai hissed, "Joey, you keep that up, no one will want to eat with you!"

Tiki covered her eyes with her hand. "This is sad but we're all used to this."

Mai was about to ask how Tiki could tolerate this when Joey suddenly started choking. Just as Mai frantically asked if he was all right, Joey swallowed and caught his breath. "Happens every time."

Mai looked at Tiki, who nodded with embarrassment, and murmured, "Gross…"

Having not touched his food, Mokuba asked, "My Lady…do you know or have heard any news about Nii-sama?"

Adena sighed and lowered her eyes. "In the Gouland Kingdom and the neighboring kingdom, we have to give sacrifices once a year."

Mia got worried. "What do you mean?"

Adena explained, "If we do not offer sacrifices to the Five Headed Dragon, it will rise up and destroy our land. I was told that the other kingdom offered a prince from a faraway land."

Mokuba sat up. "That's Nii-sama!"

Tiki asked, "Where is he?"

Adena explained, "I'm almost positive he's in the Dark Castle of the Sky."

Yugi asked, "How do we get there?"

Adena looked at a nearby picture of a large bird travelling over the world. "Look. There is a legend from a thousand years ago of an ancient ship that was used to get the Dark Castle of the Sky. Unfortunately, we do not know where to find the legendary artifact."

Hearing that, Mai got an idea. "How about we use our Monsters to get there?"

Adena shook her head. "The castle has a barrier that no monster can cross."

Mokuba lowered his head, disheartened. Seeing this, Mai said, "Don't worry. Don't forget that this is a game. We'll find a way to get there."

Seeing Adena and her caretaker staring at Mai, Tiki elbowed the older woman in the ribs. "Mai…"

Mai looked up and, seeing the confused looks, quickly said, "Just ignore me!" Calming down, she asked, "Who will be your sacrifice?"

The caretaker wiped away a tear as Adena calmly said, "Yes…me." Everyone was surprised as Adena continued, "But I believe you might be able to save our land. The legend of the ship also speaks of a group of legendary heroes that will arrive and slay the dragon! It is stated 'When the strongest dragon teams up, the Evil God will be destroyed.'"

Yugi asked, "Is that why you were in the maze?"

Tiki paled. "You can't mean WE'RE the legendary warriors?!"

Adena smiled. "Of course! After witnessing your fighting ability firsthand, I am convinced that you can save us!"

Joey stood up. "All right! This is a dream come true for a fan of heroics like me!"

Mai scoffed. "As simple-minded as ever. Need I remind you saving Kaiba is our top priority?"

Tiki smiled. "Thank you, Mai."

Joey responded, "I know. But if we don't get the Five Headed Dragon, we can't save Kaiba! So we're going to run into it eventually."

Everyone agreed, making Adena smiled wider. "Thank you all. Now we have outfits of the legendary warriors."

Hearing that, Tiki murmured, "Please don't let them be the stereotypical video game outfits…"

* * *

In a spare room, Mai came out in her new outfit: a purple dress with metal shoulder straps, metal brassier, metal skirt, a cape, gloves, high boots, and a sword. "I'm liking this. How about you, Yugi?"

Yugi turned to reveal his greyish-blue armor and red cape. "I guess…I just feel silly."

Mai chuckled. "Really? It suits you!"

Yugi shrugged. "I don't know…" Sitting down, he said, "You know, you don't have to do this, Mai. There's no reason for you to put yourself in danger."

Mai rolled her eyes. "What the hell are you talking about? All we're doing is riding a ship." She then looked at two nearby curtains. "By the way, where are Joey and Tiki?"

Joey peeked out, as red as Yugi's cape. "…Why am I the only one wearing something like this?"

Mai demanded, "Doesn't matter! Just get out here!"

Joey pushed aside the curtain, revealing him wearing a fur kilt, one shouldered fur shirt, a monster skull on his head, and holding a spiked club. "I look like an idiot!"

Coming out of the other curtain, the caretaker looked at Joey and said, "But that's the official attire of the legendary hero."

Yugi looked at the curtain. "Tiki, aren't you coming out?"

Tiki stuck out her arm, revealing a burgundy glove with a metal gauntlet, and shook her hand. "No. This is karma and I don't like it."

The caretaker chuckled. "Come now, child. You look lovely."

Before Tiki could protest, the old woman threw open the curtain, shocking everyone. Tiki was hearing a short burgundy skirt, metal brassier with leather shoulder pads, gloves and gauntlets on both arms, a rope for a belt, and a small sword on her waist. Joey gave a wolf whistle, making Tiki cover herself and Mai smack him upside the head. Tiki whined, "I asked for a non-stereotypical outfit and I get the worst one! That's not fair! Even Mai is more covered than me!"

Rubbing the back of his head, Joey said, "Well, this game was made by the Big Five…"

Tiki blushed and growled, "I'm going to kill them!"

Suddenly a bolt of lightning zigzagged through the sky. They raced out, meeting Mokuba in his blue armor and Adena, and went out onto the balcony to see the sky turning dark. Seeing Adena, the caretaker protested, "You must go inside! It's too dangerous for you here!"

Adena said nothing. Everyone looked up and saw a shadowy castle in the sky and hundreds of Duel Monsters coming towards them. Joey grimaced. "Damn, they came fast!"

Mai made the first move, summoning Dark Witch (ATK 1800), and had her attack the monsters. Watching, Yugi shook his head. "It's no use! There's too many! Mai, call back your Dark Witch before you lose life points!"

Mai asked, "What are you going to do?"

Yuig looked at the monsters. "I have no choice: I must battle all of them!"

Trusting Yugi, Mai called back her monster, allowing Yugi to play the magic card Dark Hole. Suddenly a dagger knocked the card out of Yugi's hand, pinning it to the ground. The group looked up and saw the Armed Ninja, who had the ability to destroy one magic card. Before anyone could react, the ninja threw a net over Adena and took her. Joey summoned Axe Raider (ATK 1700) and equipped it with Kunai with Chain. With the weapon, the Duel Monster was able to destroy the Armed Ninja but a winged monster grabbed the net and retreated to the Dark Castle with the rest of the monsters. Everyone was horrified Adena was kidnapped but they noticed that Mokuba, who collapsed to his knees, spoke with a girl's voice, "No…Mokuba…"

Tiki looked at the child. "Wait a minute…what did you say?"

The child turned to reveal it was not Mokuba but Adena. On the verge of tears, Adena said, "It was Mokuba…he was taken…he insisted on trading places with me. He claimed it was to see his big brother. This is all my fault. If I had been taken as the sacrifice like I should have been…please! I beg of you! Please save Mokuba!"

Everyone looked at the castle in the sky. Joey said, "It is pretty far…"

Tiki nodded. "And, without the ship…"

Yugi walked to the edge of the balcony. "We need to get up there…but how?" He lowered his head with a sigh and noticed something. "Hey! Look!"

Everyone joined him and looked down, seeing a ruin of an ancient village. In the middle of the town, partially hidden under the sand, was something that looked like the outline of a giant bird. Joey said, "It looks like one of those Nazca geoglyphs."

Yugi agreed as Tiki looked at Joey. "I'm impressed you know about the Nazca lines."

Still looking at the village, Joey commented, "I have to be knowledgeable when the aliens who made them come back."

Tiki groaned and murmured, "Spoke too soon…"

Yugi got their attention back by saying, "Never mind that. Take a closer look at the pattern."

They stared for a few seconds until Mai excitedly asked, "Could that be a card?!"

Adena's eyes lit up. "Could that be the legendary flying machine?"

Tiki smiled. "So we found it…now how do we use it?"

* * *

Once Adena was back in her regular clothes, she issued a proclamation throughout her kingdom, urging her people to stand up to the Five Headed Dragon, starting by looking for a hint about how to revive the flying machine. The four friends stayed on the balcony. Yugi nodded. "Just wait, Kaiba, Mokuba!"

Tiki nodded. "We're on our way!"

* * *

About an hour later, everyone met the villagers in front of the castle, who revealed they could not find anything. Frustrated, Joey punched the wall. "Damn it! And after we made it this far…!"

Yugi said, "Don't give up yet."

Mai agreed and Tiki pointed out, "You know video games like no one else I know. There's always a clue somewhere, right?"

Joey growled, "This is a game the Big Five made so there isn't any! Think about it: we're wasting time here and who knows what's happening to Kaiba and Mokuba!"

Tiki shuddered at the thought and Yugi started to think about what the answer could be. He remembered the ship's legend and got an idea. "Adena! How long ago did the legend of the ship take place?"

Adena was curious about the question but still answered. "I believe it was 1,000 years."

Yugi's eyes widened. "That's it!"

* * *

Once they were in the middle of the ancient village, Yugi said, "The flying machine has been dormant for 1,000 years."

Tiki nodded. "Yeah. And…?"

Yugi stated, "All we have to do it go back 1,000 years!"

Tiki sighed. "Yugi, this is fantasy, not sci-fi."

Joey agreed. "There's no way we can do that."

Mai suddenly realized what Yugi was talking about. "We can't but YOU can, Joey!"

Joey was taken aback as Yugi explained. "Think. Why does this symbol look like a card? Answer: because it's meant to be revived with a card! You have the card that can do that, Joey."

Joey suddenly remembered. "Duh!" He pulled out Time Wizard. "We can go back in time using this. Still, playing this card is a gamble; I can't guarantee it'll work."

Yugi looked up at his friend. "We have to save the Kaiba brothers by any means necessary."

Mai nodded in agreement and Tiki added, "Besides, knowing your luck, we'll be fine."

Joey took a deep breath. "All right. We're counting on you, Time Wizard."

He summoned Time Wizard and started the time clock to send them back 1,000 years. As the Duel Monster's special ability went into effect, the village started to rebuild itself back to its former glory. When everything was back in its prime and the symbol on the ground was more prominent, the friends stood up. Joey growled. "Damn it! It didn't work!"

Suddenly the earth started to shake under their feet and the ground started to break apart, knocking them off their feet. Something underground was coming up.


	9. Rescue

Chapter 9

Rescue

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers. When a sentence is written with two stars, **like this**, it means it's in sign language.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

Watching from afar, Adena and the villagers saw a light come out of the ancient village. To their surprise, a ship came up. It was large ship, made of wood and metal, and was shaped like a bird, achieving flight by two propellers on each wing and on the back tail. The legendary ship had been revived.

After getting over his initial shock, Joey grinned. "We're actually flying!"

Mai hugged Joey, embarrassing him, but their attention was drawn to the villagers below, cheering for them. They ran to the edge and Yugi waved at them. Just then, little Iru flew up to him. Yugi smiled wider. "You wanna come with us?"

Iru nodded. The group then looked at the Dark Castle of the Sky. Seeing the helm, Joey raced forward. "All right, I'm driving!"

Tiki called out, "No tricks! We want to get there in one piece!"

Joey did not hear her as he spun the helm, aiming directly for the Dark Castle of the Sky. As they flew closer and closer, they remained in daylight until they went through the clouds and emerged in darkness. As if determining the humans were close enough, the dark cloud of Duel Monsters emerged from the castle and headed straight towards them. Yugi tensed up. "They're here!"

Joey growled, "Then let's get them!"

Mai smirked. "We'll defeat all of them!"

She summoned Harpie Lady with Rose Whip (ATK 1600), Joey called forth Giltia the Dark Knight (ATK 1850), and Yugi completed the trio with Dark Magician (ATK 2500). Seeing their three monsters, Joey grinned. "All right! Bring it on! We'll take you all down!"

Suddenly the ship started to shake: bomb-like monsters were attacking the underside of the ship. Gripping the edge of the ship, Tiki yelled, "You had to jinx it!"

Joey and Mai struggled to stay standing but Yugi was knocked off his feet. The winged Duel Monsters that took Mokuba started to fly down to attack Yugi. Dark Magician saw but could not get to his master in time. To Yugi's horror, Iru acted as a shield and was knocked away just as Dark Magician swooped down and destroyed the attacking monster. Tiki caught Iru in midair as Yugi played Swords of Revealing Light, stopping the rest of the monsters. Tiki came over to Yugi, who asked frantically, "Is she all right?!"

Tiki shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. "No…"

Yugi looked at Iru. The sprite was hurt but managed to give Yugi a weak smile. Tears forming, Yugi said, "I'm sorry…! You're hurt…because of me!"

Iru continued to smile until she faded into starlight. Joey and Mai looked at the siblings, who started to cry over the sprite's death. Tiki whimpered, "This…isn't…fair…!"

Standing up, Tiki and Yugi screamed in sorrow, letting Yami and Tima take over. Growling furiously, Yami declared, "I will never forgive you, Big Five!"

Tima looked at Joey and pointed to the castle. Joey nodded and continued to drive the ship. All of a sudden, the ship hit the invisible barrier. Joey tensed up. "Come on…just a little more…!"

To their relief, the ship passed through. Yami's eyes, however, were fixed on the castle and noticed the seal on the floatation ring open. Suddenly fire shot out of the hole. Joey turned the ship to avoid the fire and managed to move it enough to save themselves. A Salamandra stuck its head out of the hole and Mai had her Harpie Lady destroy the fire monster. Before they could celebrate, Tima grabbed Yami's arm and pointed. Everyone looked and their eyes widened: when Joey turned the ship, the Salamandra's fire hit the left wing's engine. The engine exploded, hurtling a piece of the propeller at the group. The propeller hit the ship's head, destroying it, but Yami managed to summon Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress (ATK 1400) in time to rescue them. Mai played Elegant Egotist and had the Harpie Sisters save Dark Magician and Giltia. Everyone looked back at the ship as it was destroyed. Joey shuddered. "That was too close."

Tima nodded. **Too close.**

* * *

In the volcano, Kaiba had passed out. He had tried to break free from his restraints but the heat and the tightness of the ropes wore him out. Hearing footsteps, he looked up with a glare as Witty Phantom returned, twirling his hat. Kaiba growled, "You again…"

Putting his hat back on, Witty Phantom chuckled. "I do apologize for keeping you waiting. The good news is we got our hands on the second sacrifice!"

Witty Phantom pointed next to Kaiba. Kaiba looked as a ball of light appeared and disappeared, revealing a young princess with long, black hair. Kaiba looked at the child and recognized him immediately, even before he took off the dress to reveal himself to be Mokuba. "Nii-sama!"

Kaiba was horrified. "Why are you here?!"

Mokuba took a few steps forward. "Isn't it obvious? I came here to save you!"

Witty Phantom chuckled in a leery way. "My, my, my…as noble as that is, all you did was arrive in time to join him. It is almost time for the ritual to begin! Shall we?" Both Kaiba brothers glared and growled at Witty Phantom as the creature continued, "Here and now, you shall become sacrifices for the Five-Headed Dragon!"

Mokuba summoned Sword Stalker (ATK 2000); the monster cut Kaiba free and Mokuba gave his brother his deck, making Kaiba smirk. "Well done, Mokuba!"

Witty Phantom took a step back; even though he was a program, he was afraid of Kaiba and his deck. "You can't…!"

Putting on the deck holder, Kaiba chuckled darkly. "It's about time I repaid you for your 'kindness!'"

He summoned Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000). Witty Phantom tried to escape but the last thing he heard before being destroyed was Kaiba commanding his dragon, "Send him to hell!"

The Kaiba brothers started to run but Armed Ninjas (ATK 300) jumped out and one summoned a Dragon Capture Jar, blocking the brothers' path. Growling that they were using the same trick, Kaiba summoned Trap Master (ATK 500), who destroyed the jar and released Kaiba's first Blue Eyes. Mokuba watched in amazement as Kaiba's two dragons destroyed all the Armed Ninjas. "All right, Nii-sama!"

Kaiba looked at Mokuba. "Tell me: how did you get here?"

Mokuba looked at Kaiba. "Don't be mad…but I asked Yugi and his friends for help."

Kaiba glared at his little brother. "Yugi?! You brought Yugi with you?!"

Mokuba lowered his eyes, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry…I was worried about you…"

Kaiba looked away and growled, "You didn't need to do that…"

Mokuba peeked up at Kaiba. "Everyone will be happy that you're all right…especially Tiki."

Kaiba looked at Mokuba, his eyes darkening. "Her too?"

Mokuba looked up and explained, "She insisted! She was worried about you, Nii-sama, almost as much as I was!"

Kaiba hissed, "If the Big Five does anything to her…let's go, Mokuba!"

Kaiba turned and started to run out. Mokuba struggled to keep up but managed to ask, "Why are you so worried about Tiki? What about the others?"

Kaiba stated, "They are duelists; Tiki is not."

Mokuba accepted that answer.

* * *

Having arrived at the castle, Joey, Mai, Yami, and Tima were running through the forest that surrounded the center of the castle. As they ran, Joey laughed. "Who the hell would have thought the 'Dark Castle' would have woods?"

Tima wanted to answer but knew her sign language was useless towards Joey. Yami, however, kept his eyes forward. "No…this presence…"

Mai suddenly cried out, "Look!"

Everyone stopped and looked up. Ahead of them was a gigantic tree and there were four giant cocoons attached to it. Joey cursed. "Cocoons of evolution!"

Mai nodded. "No matter what, we can't let them hatch!"

Hearing buzzing and clicking, Tima signed to Yami, **We have bigger problems right now.**

As she signed, swarms of Killer Needles (ATK 1200) and Hercules Beetles (ATK 1500). Joey scoffed. "More small fry."

He summoned Giltia again, who destroyed a lot of bugs. But suddenly Giltia was attacked and destroyed by Man-Eater Bug (ATK 450). Joey watched in horror as Tima signed with Yami translating, "They're trying to protect the cocoons!"

The rest of the bugs started to swarm in. Having enough, Yami played Mirror Force. When the bugs made contact, they erupted in flames and fell to the ground. But it was too late: the cocoons hatched, revealing four Great Moths (ATK 2600). Tima backed up. **Too late.**

Yami drew. "We have other options!"

He summoned Catapult Turtle (ATK 1000) and Kuriboh (ATK 300). Joey blinked in surprise. "You're kidding, right?"

Kuriboh got on the catapult as Yami played one more card. "With this, the Great Moths will be eliminated!"

The card he played was Multiply, creating thousands of Kuribohs hurtling towards the Giant Moths. Once they made contact, the furry monsters exploded, fatally damaging the Great Moths. Mai and Joey cheered and Yami silently congratulated himself. Touching his shoulder, Tima smiled. **Well done.**

Yami nodded his thanks before the group continued. They reached the castle and walked in, only to stop when a hole appeared on the ceiling above them. Before they could figure out what was going on, a bright light pierced the hole, temporarily blinding them. When the light died, they looked up and saw a Blue Eyes White Dragon head peek out. They thought it was another obstacle in the game but, to their relief, the Kaiba brothers jumped down from the head. In her heart, Tiki jumped for joy. 'You're all right, Seto! I'm so glad!'

Joey laugh. "All right! You guys are okay! You had us worried!"

Kaiba scoffed with his trademark smirk. "I don't need a loser like you worrying about me."

Joey growled, "What the hell was that?! You bastard!"

Tiki chuckled and pinched the bridge of her nose. 'He'll never change…but at least he's all right.'

Kaiba looked at Tima and scoffed. "Dirty old men…"

Remembering the skimpy outfit Tiki put on, Tima blushed and covered herself as best she could with Mai's cape. Their moment, however, was interrupted by the sound of men laughing all around them. "You have made it this far! Well done!"

A swirling vortex appeared at the top of the nearby stairs. Kaiba scoffed. "You wanted to use me as a sacrifice but you failed!"

Gansley's voice stuttered. "Kaiba Seto! why are you here?"

Kaiba growled, "That means you failed! The Five-Headed Dragon cannot be revived! This game officially ends!"

Johnson chuckled. "I believe you are wrong."

The world disappeared, revealing the computerized world behind the game. Suddenly, a huge wall of blue flames erupted in front of them and morphed into the Five-Headed Dragon (ATK 5000). A large golden dragon, each of the five heads were different: one was fire, one was water, one was the main head (it was same color of the body), one was darkness, and one was metal. Yami felt very humble before the dragon. "So this…is the legendary dragon?"

Kaiba was furious. "That is impossible! The Five-Headed Dragon shouldn't be revived!"

Johnson laughed. "You always used to say 'a truly exceptional game always has a surprise ending.'"

Kaiba smirked. "I see. So I assume that this is your way of saying you do not wish to step down quietly?"

Yami's eyes narrowed a little. "Very well. We'll take you on!"

Wanting to make the first move, Mai summoned the Harpie Lady Sisters but they were electrocuted as soon as they were summoned. Gansley chuckled. "Behold the symbol you are standing on."

Everyone looked and saw the image of the Lord of Dragons on the computerized floor. Gansley explained, "This is the Dragon's Sanctuary. Only Dragon-type monsters are allowed to fight here!"

Hearing that, Kaiba erupted into laughter. "You dare challenge me to a duel of Dragons? I praise your optimism and marvel at your stupidity!"

Kaiba summoned Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000), Joey summoned Red Eyes Black Dragon (ATK 2400), Mai summoned Harpie's Pet Dragon (ATK 2000), and Yami finished the group with Curse of Dragon (ATK 2000). The four duelists had their dragons attack the Five-Headed Dragon but their attacks were cancelled out by the attacks from four of the five heads. Joey cursed, "Damn it, it didn't work!"

Gansley chuckled. "You have impressive dragons…but there are still one target left to attack! So defenseless…and so open for an attack!"

The golden head leered at Mokuba. Seeing that, Tima stood in front of Mokuba, becoming a human shield. Kaiba froze. "No…!"

The golden head reared back and launched an attack at Mokuba and Tima. Kaiba turned to try and protect his little brother but Joey was quicker: he had Red Eyes act as a shield, one that was quickly destroyed. Joey suddenly collapsed down to his knees, shaking in pain. Joey and Yami ran to him and saw that his life point gauge was empty. Joey strained to look at Yami and grinned weakly. "Yugi…the rest…is up to you…!"

Yami panicked as he watched Joey starting to turn into starlight, just like Iru. But there was nothing anyone could so as Joey disappeared, giving everyone a thumbs-up as he did. Mai collapsed and cried as Yami shook with anger and sorrow. Standing up, Mai glared at the Five-Headed Dragon. "That's not fair! It's illegal to attack the players directly!"

Johnson laughed. "'Not fair?' We make rules of this world!"

Kaiba growled. "Bastards…!"

Standing up, Yami recited, "'When the strongest dragon teams up, the Evil God will be destroyed.'"

Kaiba looked at Yami. "What are you doing talking about?"

Yami looked at Kaiba. "It's the legend we were told in the kingdom! I believe it's a hint on how to defeat the Five-Headed Dragon!"

With that, Yami played Black Luster Ritual and sacrificed Curse of Dragon and Gaia the Fierce Knight to summon Black Luster Soldier (ATK 3000). Gansley laughed as Black Luster Soldier collapsed to his knees, in pain from the electricity. "Have you forgotten about the dragon seal already? Though powerful, he's useless as long as he's not a Dragon-type."

Another Big Five member agreed. "We'll get rid of him right now!"

Mai shook her head. "No, you won't! I'll be your opponent!"

Harpie's Pet Dragon attacked but it was quickly destroyed by the main head. Yami was horrified as Mai collapsed when her dragon was destroyed. Yami crouched down to help her up but Mai smiled weakly. "Yugi…I hope you know what you're doing…but I believe in you! You better…win…"

Tima lowered her head as Mai disappeared. Yami shook in anger as he stood up, clenching his teeth. "Mai…! You putting your life on the line will not be in vain!" He quickly turned around. "Kaiba! This is our chance: call your Ultimate dragon out!"

Kaiba growled. "How dare you try and order me around!"

Tima shook her head. 'So stubborn…'

Yami grew frustrated. "Now isn't the time for your pettiness!"

Kaiba hissed, "I don't need your power! I can defeat these guys on my own!"

Gansley scoffed. "Don't kid yourself, you child! Disappear with your Blue-Eyes!"

The golden head launched an attack. Yami called out, "Kaiba! Call out your…!"

Kaiba shouted, "Shut up!"

Suddenly Tima and Mokuba noticed something. The Five-Headed Dragon was not attacking the White Dragon; it was attacking Kaiba himself. Panicking, Tiki took control of her body and she and Mokuba pushed Kaiba out of the way, screaming in pain as the attack hit them. Because he was so young, Mokuba disappeared right away. Kaiba looked in horror. "Mokuba!"

He then noticed Tiki, who started to stumble towards him. Growing weaker by the second, she quietly said, "Seto…I…"

She could not finish as she started to fall forward. Kaiba reached out to catch her but she became starlight before she reached him. In shock, Kaiba screamed in fury before collapsing to the ground. Yami's eyes widened in horror; in his heart, he could hear Yugi scream for his sister. A Big Five member laughed. "Look how pathetic you have become, Kaiba!"

Johnson said with sarcastic calm, "Master Seto, grieve in despair for your little brother and that child-like girl."

Having enough, Yami looked at Kaiba. "Stand up! Stand up, Kaiba! Or do you want to stay there and waste what Mokuba and Tiki just did for you?!"

Kaiba started to shake in fury. Not only was he upset about Mokuba, he was upset about Tiki as well. For a brief second, he wondered why Tiki affected him this way. He then remembered that she protected Mokuba and knew he owed a debt to her because of that. "Unforgivable…you will pay for this, Big Five!"

Standing up, he summoned his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (ATK 4500). Gansley laughed. "Even with the Ultimate Dragon, it is still not nearly enough to stop our Five-Headed Dragon's attack!"

Yami stated, "We'll see about that." Closing his eyes, he recited, "'When the strongest dragon teams up, the Evil God will be destroyed.'"

The Big Five suddenly realized what Yami was talking about. "No…! You can't…! Black Luster Soldier…Ultimate Dragon…! You can't be intending to summon that monster?!"

Yami held up the Polymerization card. "Just watch me!"

Yami and Kaiba ordered their monsters to merge. The Five-Headed Dragon tried to attack to stop the polymerization but the attack was negated as the Black Luster Soldier mounted the Ultimate Dragon and became the Dragon Master Knight (ATK 5000). The knight activated its special ability by holding up its sword, releasing a rainbow-edged white light that engulfed the field. To the Big Five's horror, Red Eyes, Harpie's Pet Dragon, and Curse of Dragon appeared on the field. Suddenly energy started to come out of the Five-Headed Dragon's body and merged with the Dragon Master Knight's sword. The three revived dragons also merged with the sword: all the dragons' ATK were being absorbed by the knight. Closing his eyes, Yami said quietly, "Can you see? Joey? Mai? Mokuba? Tima? Tiki?" Opening his eyes, he proclaimed, "This is your power!"

With the new power, the Dragon Master Knight had ATK 9000. Yami and Kaiba ordered their monster to attack the Five-Headed Dragon; the knight launched an attack that merged with the Ultimate Dragon's attack. The attack hit the Five-Headed Dragon and destroyed it. When the dragon was destroyed, the world disappeared, causing Kaiba and Yami to fall into darkness…

* * *

Yami slowly opened his eyes and sat up when he heard cheering. Clutching his head, Kaiba looked and stood up with Yami: they were back at Adena's kingdom and all the villagers were cheering for them. Coming up to them, Adena smiled. "You have done well, defeating the Five-Headed Dragon. Our world has been saved."

Yami lowered his head. "But Joey and the others…"

Kaiba clenched his fists so tightly, they started to shake. "This is not a true victory!"

Adena smiled softly. "My friends, now that the Five-Headed Dragon has been vanquished, it is time I revealed my true form."

Yami and Kaiba were confused until Adena transformed into the Mystical Elf and started to chant a spell. A beam of light appeared in front of the two, revealing Mai, Joey, Mokuba, Tiki, and Iru. Yami was overjoyed to see his friends and Kaiba was for Mokuba. The four stood up, dazed, as Joey asked, "What the hell happened to us?"

Mokuba looked up and saw, "Nii-sama!"

He ran to his brother and hugged him as the friends reunited. Suddenly, behind them, a dark portal appeared. Having enough of the game, Kaiba started to walk towards it. "That would appear to be the exit."

Joey looked at Kaiba. "Hang on a second, Kaiba. You should at least say 'thank you,' you jerk!"

Kaiba scoffed with a smirk. "You should be thanking me: if I hadn't been there, you wouldn't have been able to defeat the Five-Headed Dragon."

Joey wanted to yell some more but Tiki stopped him. "Let it go."

Kaiba peeked behind his shoulder, "Yugi, you should hear me out for a moment. I must know: did you know about the existence of the Dragon Master Knight?"

Yami chuckled. "As long as we believe, the cards will answer us. All I did back there was believe in my cards. You're the same, aren't you, Kaiba?"

Kaiba did not answer. He was disappointed with Yami's answer, wondering if Yami was mocking him or if he seriously believed that nonsense. Turning back to the portal, Kaiba said, "Let's go, Mokuba."

Gathering her courage, Tiki stepped forward. "Wait!" Seeing Kaiba peek at her, she blushed and lowered her head. "I'm…I'm glad you're all right."

Hearing that, Kaiba turned to fully look at her. Remembering the outfit she was in, Tiki blushed deeply and did her best to cover as much of her body as possible. But she froze when Kaiba said, "Thank you for protecting my brother, Tiki. I am in your debt."

Tiki chuckled nervously. She could believe the man she had feelings for was saying these things to her. "I-It was nothing! I mean, anyone could've done it!"

Kaiba suddenly remembered. "Although…something is troubling. When you disappeared, what were you going to say?"

Tiki froze: when she was hit by the Five-Headed Dragon's attack, she almost confessed her feelings to him. She knew that her friends, especially Joey, were wondering what was going on so she nervously said, "It's nothing…important. It can wait."

Kaiba stared at her for a moment. What was she hiding? Having enough, he turned, muttering, "Odd girl…" and left with Mokuba. Tiki giggled a little, having heard Kaiba. Scratching the back of her head, she murmured, "Yeah, I guess I am."

Joey went up to Tiki and asked, "What the hell was that about?"

Tiki blushed deeply and quickly waved her hands in front of her face. "Nothing! Nothing!"

Joey got closer to Tiki. "C'mon!"

Tiki shook her head, still bright red. Seeing that, Mai got between them. "Leave her be, Joey! Not all girls have to tell you everything!"

Tiki smiled at Mai, who winked at her. Adena the Mystical Elf came up to them. "This is wonderful, my saviors. We shall never forget you."

The four of them said their farewells and walked through the portal.

* * *

When their pods opened up, Joey, Yugi, Tiki, and Mokuba sat up, groggy from their adventure. Joey groaned, "Is this what a hangover feels like?"

Tiki got up. "Mokuba, tell your brother to ease on the transferring process if he wants to continue with this game."

Mokuba nodded and then noticed that Tristan was holding back three suits and Kemo. Glad to see them, Merina asked, "Where's Kaiba?"

Yugi smiled. "He's safe!"

Tiki nodded with a twinkle in her eyes. "He should be back in his own body."

Kemo paled. "What did you say?!"

Mokuba glared at Kemo. "Too bad, Kemo! Your plan failed!"

Hearing that, Kemo ordered a withdrawal and the suits retreated. Tea smiled. "We did it!"

Tristan called out, "Serves you right!"

Suddenly they heard a yawn and a familiar voice saying, "Thank God…"

They noticed an open door and Mai came sleepily out of the room. Stretching her arms, Mai asked, "You guys were here too?"

Yugi nodded. "Came a little while ago."

Mokuba turned to them. "Guys…thank you…so much. I don't…"

Joey grinned. "You idiot. Go see your big brother before he becomes an even bigger jerk!"

Mokuba nodded and ran out. Tristan said, "We should get back too."

Mai groaned, "I'm starving…"

Merina agreed. "Me too, actually."

Joey grinned. "All right! How 'bout some ramen?!" Everyone agreed until Joey looked at Tiki and groaned. "Man…you're back in your school clothes."

Tiki blushed deeply and hugged herself. "I'm happy for that! I hated that outfit I had to wear!"

Tristan looked at Tiki. "What outfit?"

Merina nodded. "It couldn't have been that bad."

Tiki blushed and pushed her index fingers together. "I don't want to talk about it…"

Suddenly Joey and Tristan laughed: they logged onto the game's computer and pulled up Tiki in her gaming outfit. Joey teased, "I don't know, Tiki. You look pretty hot in it."

Everyone went to the screen and reacted to Tiki's skimpy outfit.

* * *

As Mokuba ran towards KaibaCorp, he thought he heard a girl's screaming from KaibaLand.

* * *

_The next school day, the group found out that Kaiba had left school. At the first chance she got, Tiki called KaibaCorp and got a hold of Mokuba, who told her that Kaiba tested out of high school to focus on KaibaCorp 24/7. Tiki was disappointed that she would not get to see Kaiba every day but she understood. What Tiki did not know was that Kaiba had a new plan to increase his finances and get the undefeated crown away from Yugi, a plan that was inspired by a mysterious visitor from Egypt._


	10. New Game, New Rules

Chapter 10

New Game, New Rules

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers. This and Chapter 10 of River will go hand-in-hand since they happen on the same two days.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

At Domino Airport, a plane from Egypt landed and passengers started to disembark; a small group was among them. A group of four security men and a woman approached three men in suits at the terminal. The woman wore a cream-colored, off-the-shoulder dress with black designs on the rims of the sleeves and collar, golden ornaments in her long, black hair, a golden tiara/headband, and a golden necklace with an Egyptian eye in the center. The head suit said respectfully, "We personally thank you for choosing Japan to host your exhibit. Welcome."

The three suits bowed, making the woman smile. "Thank you for your welcome."

Standing up straight, the head suit hesitantly said, "I've always wanted to meet the Egyptian archaeological expert. Thank you for taking great care with this exhibit."

The woman closed her eyes for a moment. "'No matter what, we should never sing about the eras where successive generations are filled with hostility.'" The suit was confused, making the woman smile. "Excuse me: old saying in Egypt. I do hope that this Ancient Egyptian exhibit will be a success."

With that, she and her security walked away.

* * *

Later that day, Kaiba was busy working at home. On summer vacation already, Mokuba wanted to get dinner but, because Kaiba had work, the child turned on the TV to kill time. He found a press conference with an Egyptian woman named Ishizu Ishtar, who was in Japan for an Ancient Egyptian exhibit. The woman Ishizu smiled a warm, wise smile. "Hello, citizens of Japan."

When the announcer said that Ishizu was going to display a lot of pieces from Egyptian history, Mokuba leaned forward to listen. Ishizu explained, "I am here to put on public display in Domino City an Ancient Egyptian exhibit."

A reporter shouted his question, "What exactly do you plan to display?"

Ishizu smiled kindly. "It is a very special exhibit. One item is a mural of the eighteen Egyptian dynasties and the Pharaohs who ruled them. This will mark the first time these items have been abroad."

Getting excited, Mokuba looked at Kaiba. "Nii-sama, this is so cool! The first time to be shown around the world!"

Kaiba did not look up from his screen and kept typing. "Boring. I have no interest in the past."

Mokuba raised his eyebrow. "Really?" He then smiled. "Looks interesting to me…the exhibit, I mean."

Kaiba said nothing; he did, however, make a mental note to give Mokuba some money so that his little brother could go to the exhibit. He suspected that Mokuba would whine about it but the elder was too busy with his new project to do anything else, especially now since he tested out of school. Just then, his phone rang. Without missing a beat in his work, Kaiba answered. "What?"

The operator said, "You have an Ishtar Ishizu from the Egyptian government on line one. She said she would like to speak to you."

Kaiba looked at the television, where Ishizu at the press conference said, "We hope everyone enjoys the exhibit during its run here. I ask that you all come visit as soon as possible."

Kaiba was puzzled. Why did the woman at the press conference want to see him?

* * *

Later that night, Kaiba was driven to the Domino Museum. Once there, Kaiba got out and told his driver, "Wait here."

The driver bowed obediently as Kaiba went up the stairs and into the building. Ishizu and two of her security were waiting for him. Standing straight out of respect, Ishizu greeted, "Welcome. It is an honor to meet you, Mr. Kaiba. I must say, I am impressed with KaibaCrop's remarkable strides in the gaming industry."

Just then, the other two security stood in front of the door. "Ma'am, everything is going as instructed. No one shall enter."

Kaiba gave Ishizu a hard look. "You have a funny way to greeting the president of a powerful company. If you doubt me in the slightest, I shall leave now."

As Kaiba turned to leave, Ishizu nodded. "Pardon. I hope, though, that you will understand my reasoning for this. This is a military strategy but it is done to protect the artifices. You see, there are certain people who are disputing with the Egyptian government about the artifices."

Smirking, Kaiba turned around. "You have my attention…for now."

Ishizu gestured behind her. "Thank you. Come."

Kaiba followed as she started to walk. As they walked through the exhibit, Ishizu explained, "We are the Bureau of Egyptian Archeology; we were formed in 1857. In a way, you could say that we were formed to protect artifices from grave robbers. At the moment, we are currently observing excavations similar to this around the world."

Bored with the lecture, Kaiba stopped. "If you came to me hoping I would dig up mummies for you, you are sorely mistaken. My only interest is building high performance silicon chips for electronic game design technology. A bunch of rocks from thousands of years ago…does not interest me in the slightest. In fact, the only reason I came tonight is what you told me on the phone earlier: the rare cards you told me about. If you are trying to insinuate that you lied to me to trick me into coming here…"

Ishizu almost chuckled but held in her laugh to not aggravate Kaiba further. "Then I shall cut to the chase. I do know that you have a keen interest in Duel Monsters. Well…what would you say if I told you that the cards you hold closest to your heart originated in Ancient Egypt?" Seeing that she had Kaiba's attention, she continued. "Maximillian Pegasus…the famous game designer who created the modern version of Duel Monsters.

Kaiba growled. "Pegasus…!"

Ishizu calmly stated, "What would you say if I told you he created Duel Monsters after visiting Egypt? Especially since that fact is not well known…" Kaiba said nothing, making Ishizu chuckle. "Come with me. I believe it's time for a change of scenery."

She continued to walk and Kaiba followed, growing more and more impatient. They eventually made it to a forbidden section of the museum. Leading him downstairs, Ishizu told Kaiba, "There are two palettes in the room up ahead that I believe will be of interest to you. The palettes originated from the Mortuary Temple of the pharaoh who ruled during Egypt's 18th dynasty. They hold the origin of Duel Monsters."

Kaiba scoffed but he still walked into the darkened room, eventually standing in front of a stone palette. Ishizu turned on the light; looking at the palette, Kaiba's eyes widened. "What the hell…?!" While the palette was severely damaged from age, there were a lot of familiar figures on it. "They look like Duel Monsters!"

Ishizu walked up behind him. "Correct. This is what inspired Pegasus to create Duel Monsters. If you'll allow me the time, I will now explain the details of the past between us humans and the monsters we now call Duel Monsters. Like many past cultures, Ancient Egyptians believed misfortunes were caused by evil spirits and that the spirits prayed on the fear and suffering that already existed in people's hearts. After a while, the Pharaoh and his royal court used their magic to trap the spirits, sealing them in stone tablets. Over time, however, the evil began to grow in the tablets. When this was discovered, a small group of priests started to rebel against the king and the royal court. They used the evil spirits in the tablets; as a result, war broke out." She walked to the next palette. "Come look at this one. This is what I wanted to show you. Look at it long and hard…be like Pegasus and do not miss a single detail."

Waking up from being hypnotized by the first palette, Kaiba joined Ishizu and looked at the palette, murmuring, "Don't ever compare me to Pegasus."

Ishizu ignored what he said and continued, "Just like Pegasus did, I am positive you will find some sort of inspiration from this image."

Kaiba looked at the palette and studied it carefully, hoping to find something to prove Ishizu wrong. Twice as tall as Seth, it was truly a sight to behold. At the top were wings. Below the wings were the three creatures surrounding a pyramid that looked like Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, which appeared to be radiating light. Below them were two creatures in Battle. Below them were two men reaching out to each other with their hands above a fire. Behind the two figures were two tablets. The rest of the tablet was covered with hieroglyphics. As he studied it, he was stunned to notice one of the figures on the palette looked exactly like someone he knew very well. "Yugi! And above him! The Dark Magician!"

Ishizu pointed out, "The one standing beside the Pharaoh…according to our records, he is known as the 'White Beast Controller.' The creature above him…there is no doubt what it is: the Blue Eyes White Dragon." Kaiba looked at the creature and was that Ishizu was right, adding to his surprise. Ishizu continued, "As you see, the Pharaoh is controlling the Magician of Dark Magic and one of his priests, the White Beast Controller, is confronting him with his Dragon. This palette shows a battle, or a duel as it would be called today, that took place thousands of years ago. What's also depicted in the battle are the Millennium Puzzle and another similar item. There is a legend that states that, when all seven of these powerful items come together, an unfathomable power will be unleashed. The legend is still being told today. The most important thing, though, is the duel between the evil priest and the righteous king…a duel that still continues to this day."

Gripping his briefcase, Kaiba growled, "I don't believe it…this…palette…I refuse to believe it!"

Ishizu turned to face Kaiba fully. "Mr. Kaiba…I do not know what you are thinking that keeps you from seeing the truth, but this truly is reality. Please…come. Please accept the truth with an open heart."

Kaiba backed away. "This is nonsense!"

Ishizu's necklace started to glow, making Kaiba freeze. The light grew brighter and brighter until Kaiba had to shield his eyes, screaming in pain. When he opened his eyes, he found himself floating above a throne room. Based on the architype, the throne room was ancient Egyptian. There was the Pharaoh sitting on his throne, staring at the court. On either side were a man standing, both dressed like the man standing opposite to the Yugi-lookalike on the palette, 15 men (supposedly priests) sitting on their knees behind the men, and three stone tablets on either side of the men. The man on the left called out, "I call upon the divine sun god Ra! I summon thee; become my servant and protect us!"

Kaiba did note that the man sounded exactly like him but he brushed it off as a trick Ishizu was playing on him. The men behind the priest glowed blue and started to chant. One tablet stood up and a faded holograph of a purple dragon. The opposing priest pray out to Ra, "Deliver unto this evil priest and his evil followers your divine judgment and righteous punishment!"

One of his tablets stood up and a blue dragon appeared. Kaiba immediately recognized it as Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress. He peeked at the Pharaoh. The king looked exactly like he did on the palette. While his eyes were shadowed, Kaiba knew it was the same king on the palette because of the Millennium Puzzle around his neck and the hair. The priest who summoned the Winged Dragon stated, "All-Mighty God, deliver unto them your divine judgment!"

The Winged Dragon attacked the purple dragon, destroying it. Suddenly lightening appeared and destroyed five of the praying priests behind the Kaiba-sounding priest. Kaiba could not believe what he was seeing. "What is this…?"

Ishizu's voice rang out. "This vision is a duel that took place 3,000 years ago."

Kaiba blinked and found himself on his hands and knees on the museum floor. As his brain processed what happened to him, Ishizu calmly said, "This palette describes the 18th dynasty, the dynasty I've been studying for some time. The names of the Pharaohs that ruled in that dynasty were recorded here; in other words, it is their identities."

Sitting up, Kaiba looked at the palette and noticed the part Ishizu was looking at: one part of the palette's bottom was destroyed. "Pharaohs, you say?"

Ishizu silently sighed. "Unfortunately, no one knows about this particular Pharaoh. His name was destroyed and all records of him do not exist; they were either destroyed or lost throughout history."

Suddenly Kaiba felt himself being drawn into the palette and found himself back in the vision. This time, his lookalike raised a tablet and unleashed La Jinn. Seeing this, the opposing priest said, "I will now summon another servant and merge the two together to protect the Pharaoh!"

As the priests behind him chanted, he summoned Fairy Dragon and merged the two dragons to create Kaiser Dragon. The priest prayed, "God, bestow your almighty vengeance on them!"

Kaiser Dragon destroyed La Jinn and five more kneeling priests were destroyed. The Kaiba lookalike glared at the Pharaoh. As the Pharaoh looked at him, Ishizu's voice told Kaiba, "In other words, he is the only king who has been completely erased from Egyptian history. Egypt was ruled by a nameless Pharaoh 3,000 years ago."

Finding himself back in the museum, Kaiba stood up, stabilizing himself by putting his hand on the wall. He glared at Ishizu, growing angry. "I am tired of listening to your bullshit! I've had it with your nonsense!"

Ishizu looked at him. "Very well. But allow me to show you one more vision."

Kaiba tried to tell her to stop but her necklace glowed faster than he could speak. Staring down at the vision again, his eyes focused on his lookalike, who proudly proclaimed, "In the name of the divine god Ra, we will conquer this fortress! By the will of those who reigned supreme and left our living world! The kings and us! For the title 'king' is more fitting to us! To realize this, I will now pay tributes to God!"

He summoned Mystic Horseman and Battle Ox and prayed, "God, bestow upon us your mighty strength! Take these sacrifices and show us your divine form!"

Mystic Horseman and Battle Ox disappeared in a bright light and a new monster appeared, one Kaiba recognized immediately. "Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

The Pharaoh stood up from his throne as the Kaiba lookalike said, "This is our true victory! God, grant us your power!"

The White Dragon destroyed Kaiser Dragon and all six of the tablets on the opposite side. Smirking at the fire created by his dragon, the Kaiba lookalike laughed evilly. "We are God!"

The Pharaoh looked on in shock. Gasping, Kaiba looked up to find himself back on his hands and knees before the palette. Ishizu stated, "This is what I believe: fate itself leads the souls of the Pharaoh and priest depicted here, making them battle to this day. After 3,000 years, their battle lingers on."

Catching his breath, Kaiba stood up and angrily grabbed his briefcase. "What bullshit! I overestimated you; you've wasted my time with your crazy talk!"

He started to walk away but Ishizu's words stopped him. "Very well. Let's move on to the main subject of our talk tonight. I assume that you are still interested in those rare cards I mentioned over the phone. How would you react if I told you that Pegasus himself was the one who hid them away?

Kaiba immediately turned around. "What did you say?"

Ishizu looked at the palette. "Look at the top, the three. From right to left: Obelisk the Tormenter, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and the Winged Dragon of Ra. The Three Gods…or, as they're now called, the God Cards."

Kaiba looked at the three. "God Cards?"

Ishizu nodded. "Pegasus created these rare cards after viewing his palette." She turned and looked at Kaiba. "You might have heard rumors about them. They say that whoever has all three cards will become a legend among duelists and be granted the highest title of duelist…the 'King of Kings.'"

Kaiba grew serious. "You are right: I have heard of them. The God Cards can be used for good or evil. If used by evil, it is rumored that they can take the lives of both duelists. They are the most prohibited cards…also known as the ultimate weapons."

Ishizu nodded. "Correct. They are so powerful, even Pegasus was afraid of them. He grew so afraid that he asked us, the Bureau of Egyptian Archeology, to seal the cards in different locations in the Valley of the Kings. However, they were stolen by a…certain someone."

Kaiba asked, "Who?"

Ishizu's eyes narrowed. "The Rare Hunters."

Kaiba's eyes widened. "The what?"

Ishizu calmly said, "They operate in secrecy around the world. They seal rare cards by stealth or by force and sell them on the black market. I even recently heard a rumor that they had started making counterfeit bootlegs of the rarest cards. But that's not important: we need to get the God Cards back before the worst can happen. This is the sole purpose of us hosting this Ancient Egyptian exhibit: searching for the whereabouts of the God Cards. It is my belief that this palette can attract duelists from far and wide."

Kaiba almost smirked at what Ishizu was implying. "So you intend to make this town a Duel Monsters battleground? I must admit, that is brilliant. The Rare Hunters are bound to gather in flocks if there is a large gathering of duelists." He then did smirk. "My Blue Eyes…"

Ishizu stepped forward. "One final thing…this."

She held out a blue Duel Monsters card. Kaiba's eyes widened when he read the name. "Obelisk the Tormenter!"

Kaiba studied the card as Ishizu explained, "Out of the three, this was the only card that was not stolen. In order to retrieve Slifer and Ra, I am entrusting you with Obelisk."

Kaiba stared at Ishizu long and hard. "You're entrusting ME with this card?" He smirked. "What makes you think you can trust me that much? After all, what's stopping me from retrieving the other God Cards and keeping them?"

Ishizu stared back at him just as hard and said three words: "I trust you." Kaiba scoffed and turned to leave, putting Obelisk in his coat pocket. As he started to leave, Ishizu called out, "Mr. Kaiba!"

Kaiba paused and growled, "What is it now?"

Ishizu calmly said, "We've been fighting this battle for 3,000 years. So please…!"

Kaiba scoffed with a smirk. "Don't worry; I definitely plan on going after the Rare Hunters." He then turned serious. "However, I have one condition."

Ishizu said, "What is it?"

Kaiba turned to leave. "Do not EVER speak to me about this king and priest battle or any of your occult crap in front of me ever again. The past means nothing to me."

With that, he left. On his way home, Kaiba stared at the God Card and laughed, feeling the card's power filling him up. He now knew what he had to do.

* * *

On Sunday, Kaiba was in the research and development department of the Collectible Card Games Division, standing in the dueling testing arena. Watching him from the observation box, Mokuba said over the speaker, "Nii-sama, we're ready in here. Start anytime."

Kaiba looked down at his Next Generation Duel Disk. 'The final test…'

He put the disk on his left arm and extended his arm. The two blades closed together, making a long arm blade, before moving to the left side of his disk. When the blade clicked into place, the blade activated, showing five slots for monster cards; underneath were slots for magic and trap cards. Kaiba studied his Duel Disk. 'This doesn't need to be thrown ever turn; when a card is set, the date is scanned immediately, thanks to our satellite system that is connected to KaibaCorp's main computer.' Taking a deep breath, he stared straight again. 'Yugi, you are the only one worthy enough to be called a rival. When this new Duel Disc is complete, our battle can be renewed! Those duelists on that ancient mural…I don't give a damn if that is you, Yugi! This is my time. All I care about is fighting you, my future's enemy! Just wait, Yugi!'

The ceiling in front of him opened and a dueling robot was lowered down to his level, making Kaiba smirk. He put his deck into the deck holder and remembered his exchange with Ishizu when she gave him Obelisk. 'A deck with the first God Card…this test is more than just a test for the new Duel Disk; I want to see what power Obelisk holds.' He said verbally, "I must see if this card is stronger than a deck with three Blue Eyes White Dragons."

His smirk widened. The workers in the observation box activated the dueling robot and he held out his arms to let the solid vision projectors launch from his Duel Disk. The dueling robot and Kaiba drew five cards and Kaiba growled, "Bring it!"

The robot drew a card and put a card face-down in defense mode. A hologram of a face-down card appeared in front of the robot. Kaiba set a card (the card appeared in front of him) and summoned Battle Ox (ATK 1700). His Duel Monster attacked the face-down card, revealing a Cyber Jar (ATK and DEF 900). The robot activated Cyber Jar's special ability, destroying Battle Ox. The robot and Kaiba then drew three cards, knowing that Cyber Jar's special ability also dictated that all monsters level four and lower had to be summoned immediately. The robot put two cards face down on the open field; Kaiba summoned Maha Vailo (ATK 1550), Dark Zebra (ATK 1800), Boar Soldier (ATK 2000), and Hitotsu-Me Giant (ATK 1200). Taking its turn, the robot revealed its two monsters (Aqua Madoor (ATK 1200) and Wall of Illusion (ATK 1000)) and used Kaiba's new rule against him: it sacrificed the two monsters and summoned a Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000). As the dragon appeared on the field, Kaiba felt a twinge of fear but quickly recovered. "Blue Eyes…you're finally here!"

The dragon roared at him as Kaiba started to calculate his next move. "Was needing enough monsters to sacrifice the reason Cyber Jar was used?"

The robot ended its turn. Kaiba knew why as he peeked down at his set card. He smirked. 'This is truly tactics level max…truly amazing.'

Kaiba sacrificed Hitotsu-Me Giant to summon Dragon Seeker (DEF 2100). Knowing how powerful Blue Eyes was, Kaiba knew he had a chance with Dragon Seeker's special ability (all dragons are destroyed when switched to attack mode). He smirked. 'Now what will you do?'

The robot set a card face down and summoned Lord of Dragons (ATK 1200), guaranteeing Blue Eyes' safety. Kaiba could not believe it and put every one of his monsters in defense mode. The robot played The Flute of Summoning Dragon. Kaiba paled; he knew what was happening now. The Lord of Dragons played the flute, allowing the robot to summon the other two Blue Eyes White Dragons. 'Damn…all three!' he growled.

The robot finished its turn by playing its face down card, Polymerization, and creating the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (ATK 4500). Kaiba almost had a heart attack: he was facing his own creation. To his relief, the robot ended its turn, as another of Kaiba's new rules was that fusion monsters could not attack on the turn it was created. Suddenly afraid, Kaiba stared at the monster before smiling softly. "Beautiful…"

Mokuba's voice rang out. "Nii-sama, it's too dangerous! Stop the duel!"

Assuming that Mokuba just found out that Kaiba removed the safety from the duel, the brunette ignored the child. As he looked at the Ultimate Dragon, he imagined Yugi standing in front of him, facing the monster. 'Is this…the fear you feel when we duel? But…no matter how many times you feel it…you ignored it and faced me. You did so…by believing in your cards. That is the greatest enemy a duelist has to face…our fear: the evil we must face!'

Mentally nodding, he drew and smirked widely at the card: Obelisk the Tormentor. "Come forth!"

He sacrificed Dragon Seeker, Boar Soldier, and his face down monster from earlier. In their place was a towering blue monster that was muscle-bound, had wings on its back, appeared to be made of a stone-like material, and had horns on its head and shoulders. Kaiba smirked. "This is my ultimate weapon…Obelisk the Tormentor!"

Obelisk (ATK and DEF 4000) towered over the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Having studied the card extensively, Kaiba activated its special ability: Obelisk grabbed Maha Vailo and Dark Zebra and absorbed them into the jewel on its forehead, making it more powerful. As electricity started to surge around Obelisk, Kaiba took no notice and said quietly, "Forgive me, Ultimate. I will lay you rest by the almighty hand of God."

He ordered Obelisk to attack. To his silent amazement, Obelisk destroyed the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and the dueling robot itself with a single punch. With the duel over and the robot in flames, Kaiba held his Obelisk card, feeling the power overwhelm him. "Incredible! Two God Cards left…with all three, I can defeat anyone, no matter how strong! Then will I become the true King of Duelists!"

He started to laugh, almost overcome with the power of Obelisk.

* * *

Later that night, Kaiba boarded his helicopter and headed towards Downtown Domino. He had made an anonymous announcement a few days ago over the internet and was confident that a lot of duelists had taken the bait. He radioed one of his workers, "How many are there?"

A voice sounded in his headset. "There is a large crowd here."

Kaiba smirked. "Good."

With that, he played the message he recorded yesterday. As he kept flying, he passed his own face on the screens, who started the announcement. "Fellow duelists, listen up! In one week's time, in this very city, KaibaCorp will be hosting a Duel Monsters tournament! There are two requirements to joining the tournament: you must have a deck of 40 cards, including one rare card, and…" the screen showed the duel disk on his arm, "…you must possess a duel disk. Duels will be played by Battle City rules, with an ante rule: the loser must give the rarest card in the deck to the winner. In other words, the final champion will have the rarest cards from everyone."

To his delight, he timed his exit perfectly: he reached Domino Station as soon as his announcement ended. Activating a live feed for the screens and telling the pilot to lower them, Kaiba stepped out of the helicopter and looked over the crowd. It did not take long for him to lock eyes with Yami. 'I knew you would show up, Yugi. We'll settle this once and for all with this battle!' He then verbally announced, "The stage for the tournament will be all of Domino City! In one week, this town will become Battle City!"


	11. Breaking Through

Chapter 11

Breaking Through

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers.**

**While this has some mention to the duel that's featured in chapter 12 of River and to a moment in chapter 13 of River, they are not connected. The introduction of Tarra is in chapter 12 of River and the duel that is summarized at the end of this chapter will be in chapter 13 of River.**

**I also chose the Japanese word instead of "nobody" simply because it's funnier.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

After watching the beginning of the tournament from KaibaCorp, Kaiba and Mokuba ventured out into Battle City. Mokuba was in charge of making sure that duels were being dueled fairly so he left his brother from time to time. However, Kaiba always found him, even coming to his brother's rescue against a duelist bully (the duelist received debilitating fear from the short duel he had with Kaiba thanks to Obelisk). While Kaiba allowed some duelists to duel him, his mind was always on the God Cards that were out there. 'Soon…they will be mine.'

On the second day, Kaiba opened his briefcase computer and checked in on KaibaCorp. "Have you found it yet…the place where the God Cards are being hidden by the Rare Hunters?"

Scott Irvine, KaibaCorp's head scientist, looked nervous. "Sir…we haven't had any luck yet."

Kaiba glared. "They're in the city; that much is certain. They will eventually try to steal Obelisk the Tormentor from me. I will not allow them to make the first move; I will come for them first! When you find them, contact me at once."

As he closed his computer, Mokuba smirked. "Sounds like they haven't found the rats yet, Nii-sama."

Kaiba smirked back. "With KaibaCorp's technology, it's only a matter of time."

Mokuba jumped up from his seat and giggled. "Guess they have no idea we casted a net all across the sky!"

Kaiba's smirk widened. "This whole tournament was a trap I set for them. Rare Hunters…I will take the God Cards from you. Come, Mokuba."

Kaiba left, knowing Mokuba was following with the briefcase. They walked for a while before Kaiba stopped dead in his tracks. Before him were Yugi and Tiki's friends; normally, he would have ignored them but Joey had something that Kaiba needed to address. "Why the hell is a bonkotsu like you wearing one of my Duel Disks?"

Merina chuckled. "This'll be good…"

Joey raised his eyebrow. "What you talkin' 'bout? I'm a duelist, that's why."

Kaiba smirked. "You're a level 2 so…"

Remembering his desire to find the God Cards, he decided to let it go. He turned and said, "…let's go, Mokuba."

As he trailed behind, Mokuba asked, "How could Joey have a duel disk? I doubt he has the money for that."

Kaiba stated, "Right now, I don't care; he won't last long, anyway."

Just then, Joey called out, "Kaiba, duel me!"

Kaiba stopped and looked back, seeing Joey looking smug and his friends giving him varying looks from fear to unamused. Solomon asked, "A-Are you sure?"

Merina stated, "Don't reinforce the blonde stereotype, stupid."

Joey ignored them and kept looking smug to Kaiba. "I'll show the true ability of a bonkotsu!"

Mokuba laughed. "Like Merina said, don't be stupid! You're not even qualified to challenge me to a duel and Nii-sama is—!"

Kaiba silenced everyone by saying, "Fine."

The two put their decks in place, Joey's ego growing by the second. Kaiba smirked. 'This will be fun.' "Allow me to show you God."

Just as the duel was about to start, however, the wind kicked up violently. While the friends were overwhelmed by the wind, the brothers recognized it and looked up, seeing their helicopter. At the same moment, Kaiba's radio in his coat collar spoke up: "Master Seto! We have located a Rare Hunter with a God Card! Get aboard!"

A rope ladder rolled down and Kaiba grabbed it. "This duel is cancelled!"

Joey growled as the brothers took off, holding onto the ladder. Mokuba sneered, "You must have the best luck in the world! Your life is spared for now!"

Joey yelled after them but Kaiba could not hear him over the helicopter blades as he climbed in. Finding the helicopter on autopilot, he got in the pilot seat and put on the headset. The same voice spoke to him from his headset, "The duel is 350 west. The Rare Hunter is dueling Mutou Yugi!"

Kaiba's eyes widened. 'Yugi is facing God? How dare you!'

He flew the helicopter to the location. When they arrived, they landed in the grass patch nearby and went to the sidewalk. With Tima watching, Yami was facing a Goth boy who had five cards in play, one of which was a terrifying sight. A dragon with the body of a snake with two clawed hands and two very large wings, its scales and spikes down its spine were red and its belly was black. Its head had a blue jewel in the middle of its forehead, surrounded by five horns. Its yellow eyes stared down at Yami as it roared out of its biggest of its two mouths. Mokuba shuddered. "Damn…"

Kaiba focused on Yami. 'You are before God, Yugi. What will you do?'

He got his answer: Yami dropped to his hands and knees before the monster. Disgusted, Kaiba yelled, "Stand up, you bastard!" When he got his rival's attention, he continued, "Your life as a duelist doesn't end here; I will not allow it! You are the only duelist worthy of my praise! I am not going to allow you to have a shameless loss with me watching! I can see it and you can too: our road of battle goes farther than we can see! Are you truly going to give up here?! If you have a God in your way, destroy God! Now stand up!"

Closing his eyes, Yami stood up. "Just you wait, Kaiba! I will defeat God!"

Tima sighed in relief and smiled her thanks to Kaiba, who focused on the duel. The Goth chuckled at Kaiba. "How convenient: the holder of the final god Obelisk the Tormentor, Kaiba Seto! After I crush Yugi, I'll defeat you, Kaiba!"

Kaiba ignored him. 'Only I should be allowed the honor of defeating Yugi!'

He watched as Yugi summoned Big Shield Gardna (DEF 2600) and the God Card (the Goth called it Slifer the Sky Dragon) immediately attacked. Mokuba heard the Goth explain that a monster being summoned immediately got 2000 damage points and went pale. "2000 points…whoa."

Kaiba nodded. "A fearsome ability…able to eliminate a monster as soon as it is summoned…" He looked up at Slifer. "Slifer the Sky Dragon…the moment I summon Obelisk to the field, it would lose half its strength in an instant."

Mokuba looked and was surprised: Big Shield Gardna was still standing. "He's safe!"

Kaiba knew Big Shield Gardna had enough DEF to survive. 'You managed to survive, Yugi…but for how long?'

Yami considered his options, making the Goth chuckle. "Yes…suffer in despair…quiver in fear before me!" The Goth drew. "I now have eleven cards…and Slifer now had 11000 ATK!"

Mokuba's eyes grew wide. "11000…?! Nii-sama, that thing gets more powerful with every cards in that guy's hand!"

Kaiba noticed one of the magic cards the Goth had in play. "Not just that; he had Infinite Hand on his field…the one card that lets him hold as many cards as he wants."

Mokuba grew more worried. "Then…it can have infinite ATK?! Is…is there any way to defeat such a monster?"

Kaiba looked at his brother, thinking about what he said. 'Infinite…infinite…' He did the mental calculations and mentally gasped. He then smirked. 'Infinite…just a deception of God. Yugi…I have figured out God's flaw…can you?'

The Goth had Slifer attack and destroy Big Shield Gardna, making Yami falter a little. Looking at him, Kaiba's smirk dampened a little. 'If you give up now, you're not worthy to be my enemy. If you truly are that weak…stop wasting our time and disappear. That way, I can defeat this guy and take Slifer for myself.'

The Goth taunted, "See the truth! God's power is infinite!"

Kaiba stared at Yami, wondering how long it would take his rival to figure it out. Tima suddenly threw a pebble at Yami's head and, once she got his attention, did some hand gestures. Mokuba asked, "What's she doing, Nii-sama?"

Kaiba stated, "Sign language, by the looks of it."

He started to wonder why "Tiki" was doing this to her "brother" when Yami burst out with a smirk, "That's it! I found God's flaw!"

Kaiba smirked. "You finally realized."

Mokuba just said, "What?"

As Yami proclaimed with confidence that he could turn the tide of the duel with one turn, Mokuba had his doubts. 'Unless he can defeat Slifer, who has 11000 ATK, Yugi can't win. But…but that's impossible.' He turned to Kaiba. "Nii-sama…"

Kaiba firmly said, "Don't say anything, Mokuba! Just watch. This…is the power of possibility…the power only a true duelist wields!"

Mokuba raised his eyebrow. "True duelist's possibility?"

He looked down and watched as Yami drew a card and, upon looking at it, proclaimed, "I win!"

Kaiba crossed his arms and smirked. 'Did you draw your key card, Yugi? It appears I was right: the God Cards only choose the proudest duelists to be their owners.'

Yami used Monster Reborn to bring back Buster Blader (ATK 3100). But such a move seemed to benefit the Goth because of Card of Safe Return. Almost being knocked off his feet from the Goth drawing three new cards and giving Slifer 14000 ATK, Mokuba gasped, "You gotta be kidding me…!"

Slifer's second mouth attacked and brought Buster Blader's ATK down to 1100. The Goth taunted Yami to put Buster Balder in defense mode but Yami proclaimed, "Buster Blader is in attack mode and in attack mode is where he'll stay! I'll show you: the infinite combo beyond the limits of God!"

Mokuba mentally shook his head. 'I don't get it…how can he possibly win?'

Kaiba watched with intent eyes. 'God's infinite power…break that illusion! This duel will be decided in this turn!'

Yami had Buster Blader attack Slifer but the Goth's other monster, a slime creature called Revival Jam, jumped up and took the attack thanks to the permanent trap card Jam Defender. As the creature started to put itself back together, Yami played Brain Control. Mokuba and the Goth assumed that he would control Slifer but Yami chose Revival Jam instead. When Revival Jam regenerated on Yami's side of the field, it started a vicious cycle for the Goth: the Goth drew three cards, Slifer's second mouth attacked, Revival Jam would regenerate, and the cycle would start again. This continued until the Goth ran out of cards to play, losing by default. Mokuba grinned. "He did it!"

He ran down to the Goth, who was on his knees and had his head down. "Hand over your rare card and locater card." The Goth did not move, making Mokuba feel awkward. "Hey…come on…" The Goth stayed still. "Huh…staying still…like a doll. Oh well…I guess not everyone is capable of handling such a defeat."

Seeing the card for Slifer the Sky Dragon, he picked it up gently. "Slifer the Sky Dragon…the second God Card…" He looked at Yami. "Yugi, as the winner, you are now the owner of Slifer the Sky Dragon."

Before he delivered the card, Mokuba remembered to get the locater card as well. When Yami took them, Mokuba smirked. "Just don't get too attached: Slifer will soon belong to Nii-sama!"

He then noticed what was on Yami's shoulder: a large yellow bird with flowing feathers, a long tail feather, and a large crest on its head. Blinking in slight surprise, Mokuba said, "Nice bird."

Yami smirked and scratched the bird's chest. "This is Tarra; I got her the other day. I guess she flew out of her cage." He then looked at Slifer. "A God Card…"

Just then, Kaiba came up to Yami. "Yugi. You are now one of the chosen to wield a God Card. Just as well: I want my enemies to be nothing short of the best. Otherwise, what's the point of defeating you?"

Mokuba's eyes widened. 'Don't tell me Nii-sama's going to challenge Yugi right here and now?'

Kaiba stared Yami down. While he figured his rival was exhausted from a tough battle, Kaiba was not about to wait. "You know this, right? When two duelists come face-to-face, the area becomes a field of battle! I challenge you, Yugi!"

Before Yami could accept or deny, the Goth suddenly stood up. "Yugi!"

Yami growled, "You want your God Card back? You never give up, Marik!"

The Goth chuckled. "Oh? No matter; all the God Cards will soon return to me. But I did forget to tell you out of courtesy: I will soon be arriving at Domino City. Once I arrive, my plan will be set in motion."

Yami asked, "Plan?"

The Goth explained, "Right now, I have three visions. One is seeing you and the most beautiful Queen in history through this puppet; one is seeing the Domino City port harbor; one is downtown in the city through the eyes of the Rare Hunters stationed there. There…I can see your friends…including the duelist named Wheeler Joey. Using your friends, it'll be easy to take back the God Cards…especially since the Rare Hunters had been keeping a VERY close eye on your friends. I can use them whenever I desire."

Yami growled, "How low can you go, Marik?!"

The Goth scoffed. "This is on you. If you had done what you were supposed to and lost to me here, your friends would have been left alone."

Tarra hissed as Yami growled, "You bastard!"

The Goth glared. "I am the one who can't forgive! The suffering of my tribe and the humiliation of the love of my life is much more than this!" Taking a breath, the Goth said, "For now, Yugi, hurry up and find your friends; if you don't, something bad might happen!"

With that, he collapsed and Yami started to run with Tima. Kaiba was highly insulted. "How dare you run away, Yugi!"

Yami growled, "Kaiba, our duel will have to wait! Joey is being targeted by the Rare Hunters! I can't let my friends be harmed!"

With that, he and Tima continued to run. Mokuba nodded. "Good luck…"

Kaiba crossed his arms and hissed, "Choosing his friends over his pride…pathetic…"

Mokuba looked at Kaiba. "Shouldn't we help him?"

Kaiba turned, as if to leave. "That bonkotsu is not my concern."

While Mokuba knew Kaiba did not like Joey, Mokuba did not want anyone to get hurt. "But we have to help him!"

Kaiba stared at Mokuba, as if to challenge him. "Give me one good reason why I should."

After a moment to think, Mokuba said, "Didn't you say you wanted to go after the Rare Hunters?"

Kaiba could not argue.

* * *

Using Yami's duel disc locater, Kaiba managed to find him. As he walked up, he saw Yami without Tarra (she was flying around, looking for Joey) and Tima were standing in front of two Rare Hunters who were playing rock-paper-scissors. He managed to hear the tall Rare Hunter say, "We have to play you one at a time!"

Activating his duel disc, Kaiba growled, "Come at us as a tag, you weaklings! I'll pair with Yugi."

As the Rare Hunters started to agree, Kaiba put his deck into his duel disc. "Don't misunderstand. I held Battle City for the sole purpose of getting the God Cards and eliminating the Rare Hunters. They are an evil group who counterfeits cards; I will not allow them to continue to prosper. As for that bonkotsu of yours, I could care less what happens to him." He then smirked. "But…since you've just obtained a God Card…maybe you don't need my help."

He peered at Yami, wondering if his rival had it in him to do so. Yami said nothing, almost making Kaiba scoff. The short Rare Hunter laughed. "This is better than our original plan."

The tall Rare Hunter agreed. "Oh yeah. If we get rid of both of you, Master Marik will be overjoyed."

The short noticed Tima and leered. "And…if we get the lovely lady for him…he would be ecstatic."

Kaiba growled. Making a comment to "Tiki" pushed him over the edge. Too focused on eliminating the Rare Hunters to wonder why the comment made him extra upset, the duel started. The short teased, "This will be short."

The tall added, "We'll rip you two apart."

Kaiba was not amused, especially since he knew this was a common bully tactic. "If you focus on spouting meaningless threats, you're not going to win."

He drew and played Pot of Greed before playing Lord of Dragon (ATK 1200) with two Flutes of Summoning Dragon, summoning all three of his Blue Eyes White Dragons (ATK 3000 x3) and Hyozanryu (ATK 2100). He then pointed out, "First player can't attack. My turn is over. So…come at me. Don't think I'll hold back just because I'm up against weaklings."

The short put a monster in face-down defense mode. Yami placed two cards face-down. Seeing that, Kaiba grew annoyed because he knew what Yami was doing. "Mind your own business, Yugi! I have no intentions to ask you for help."

Yami looked at his tag partner. "Excuse me?"

Kaiba smirked. "I alone am more than enough to tackle these two."

Yami teased, "How about I just sit back and watch?"

He ended his turn after he summoned Kuriboh (DEF 200). The short nervously pointed out, "We're in trouble."

The tall just gave him a look before playing a monster in face-down defense mode and setting a card. Kaiba scoffed, recognizing the stalling tactic. "Trap, magic, it's useless no matter what."

Yami looked at Kaiba. "Be careful. They could be aiming for something."

Kaiba growled. He knew Yami was cautious but Kaiba was done. "I thought I told you to stay out of this!" Yami was about to tell him off when Kaiba stated with a proud smirk, "Allow me to show you mine. For you see…I wield one too."

Kaiba sacrificed his three Blue Eyes, surprising Yami, before summoning Obelisk the Tormentor (ATK 4000). Everyone, including Kuriboh, was shocked at the sight. Kaiba laughed with a touch of insanity. "Behold: the first God Card, Obelisk the Tormentor!"

Obelisk grabbed Hyozanryu and Lord of Dragons, absorbing their strength and making its ATK infinite. Kaiba activated Obelisk's special ability, allowing the God to destroy the defense monsters, before having Obelisk attack. The tall Rare Hunter activated Mirror Force but Kaiba sneered, "Tricks don't work on God!"

Obelisk punched through Mirror Force like it was smoke and destroyed both Rare Hunters' life points. Kaiba laughed, almost drunk on Obelisk's power. "Do you see, Yugi?! My God!"

Yami was stunned. "Kaiba's God Card…"

With the duel done, Yami went to the short Rare Hunter. Kaiba went to the tall and started to look for locater cards. As short as the duel was, it still counted. He soon found two. "These pathetic weaklings had one locater card each? I almost feel insulted. Yugi, this is for you."

Kaiba tossed Yami one and he caught it. "I have to look for Joey!"

He and Tima started to run but Kaiba called out, "Stop!"

The two stopped and Yami growled, "Stop being so persistent! I can't—""

Kaiba ignored him and looked back at Mokuba. "Contact Head Quarters."

Mokuba smiled brightly. "You going to look for Joey and the others?"

As Tarra flew down to Yami, Kaiba looked at Yami. "Using our system, we'll be able to find that pathetic bonkotsu the moment he duels someone, no matter where in the city. The moment we find him, however, be prepared to duel me and bring about our conclusion!"

Yami agreed and the four walked together. After a while, Mokuba checked the computer and left with Tima to get to higher ground (the buildings were interfering with the computer). The two rivals walked some more before Kaiba got an alert. After listening, he said, "I found your friends' location."

Yami nodded. "Sorry about this."

Kaiba scoffed. "Once again, don't misunderstand me. I have no interest in that bonkotsu; I just want to get this over with so I can get your God Card."

Yami stopped. "Let me say this one thing: Joey at this moment is a very talented duelist…so stop insulting him! I promised him that I would battle him in Battle City…as true duelists…in a true match!"

Kaiba looked at Yami over his shoulder, letting his rival have his say, and said, "Just follow me."

The two walked until they reached Domino Aquarium. Stopping in front of the entrance, Yami said, "They must be around here."

Kaiba agreed. "Our satellite search system should catch any duel your bonkotsu—friend—engages in."

Yami ran in to start searching. Kaiba took a moment to smirk. "To be able to care so much for a pathetic bonkotsu…I don't think I'll ever understand you, Yugi."

He followed Yami in. His friends were not there so he went to find a payphone, Kaiba and Tarra trailing behind. Yami spent some time in the payphone booth before coming back out. "Tea didn't answer her phone. They may have already been attacked by the Rare Hunters!"

Kaiba smirked. "Don't panic. I told Mokuba to contact me as soon as their location was found; with your sister helping him, your friends will be found in no time." Yami said nothing, making Kaiba chuckle and start to leave. "But do tell me…how does it feel...walking side-by-side with your sworn enemy? I myself tremble with desire…for right now…" he turned to look at his rival, "…I can't think of anything else but how much I want to defeat you.

Yami stated, "Right now, I'm focused on Joey and the others."

Kaiba smirked, amused. 'Yugi…you will always be an unsolvable riddle to me.'

Just then, his coat collar beeped. He activated and Mokuba's voice rang out, "Nii-sama! It's weird…I've lost trace of Joey and the others."

Tiki's voice rang out. "According to Mokuba, it looks like Joey's duel disk has been locked."

Mokuba stated, "I'm going back to headquarters to search for alternatives!"

Tiki finished with, "Stay there and I'll join you!"

Kaiba nodded. "Very well. Good job, Mokuba." He turned to Yami. "We can't find that bonkotsu. KaibaCorp's satellite system is perfect but…"

Neither liked the implication as they walked some more. Kaiba looked at Tarra, sitting on Yami's shoulder. "As if your choice of friends could not baffle me even further…"

Yami said nothing. After a minute, however, he stopped and touched his chest. Seeing that, Kaiba stopped. He was about to ask what was wrong when a small Rare Hunter suddenly jumped in front of them. Chuckling evilly, he pointed behind them. "Look!"

The two looked behind them as the wind kicked up from the helicopter coming around the corner. Yami and Tarra were blinded by the wind but Kaiba was not and he saw what was dangling from the copter. "That's…!"

It was Mokuba, his yells drowned out by the helicopter blades, and Tima, struggling against the tight ropes wrapped around her. The helicopter stayed still, as if to tease the two with their prey. Feeling his blood boil, Kaiba yelled, "Damn you, you bastards!"

Yami growled at the Rare Hunter, "Let them go this instant!"

His anger growing and growing, Kaiba added, "If you harm Mokuba, I'll crush you with the entire weight of KaibaCorp!"

The small Rare Hunter laughed in a mocking way. "So scary! But do try to touch us: if you do, that cute little brother and that sexy woman will…well, why spoil the surprise?"

Kaiba growled, "Damn you!"

The short Rare Hunter pointed to a nearby glass-covered skyscraper. "We'll be waiting for you atop that skyscraper. If you don't show up…who knows what my comrades will do to them?"

The helicopter took off, taking Mokuba and Tima. The small Rare Hunter added, "By the way, you should come, Yugi, to also save that little friend of yours."

Yami paled. "They did…!"

The small Rare Hunter laughed. "They ain't in the way. Now hurry!"

He left, using parkour to leap up the buildings. Kaiba growled but looked at Yami. "Yugi! We need to go!" As Yami agreed, Kaiba hissed, "We'll crush them with everything we've got! But once again, don't misunderstand me. I'm doing this for Mokuba."

Yami agreed as they looked at the skyscraper. As Merina ran up to Yami and Tarra flew off to try and follow the helicopter, Kaiba focused on the skyscraper. 'Hang on, Mokuba…I'll save you.'

He then thought about seeing "Tiki" captured and his blood boiled. As many times as he told Yami that he was just helping because of his own mission, he also wanted to save Tiki but he told himself it was for another reason. 'Tiki…I still owe you for you saving Mokuba from the Big 5…time I pay you back.'

* * *

At the top of the skyscraper, Yami, Kaiba, and the two Rare Hunters stood on one panel of the sun roof and Merina watched from the side. The small Rare Hunter teased, "Welcome. Allow us to formally introduce ourselves." He lifted his head, revealing the short Rare Hunter from earlier but wearing a white mask that covered the right side of his face. "Lumis!"

The second Rare Hunter lifted his head, revealing the tall Rare Hunter from before but wearing a black mask that covered the left side of his face. "Umbra!"

Lumis grinned with his mask. "We're a tag team specially assembled for getting the God Cards back! With that in mind, allow me to explain the rules. This is a tag duel: us against the two of you. If a duelist loses all of their life points, he will be removed from the game, leaving his partner to work twice as hard. Best not to mess up, however, for losing means death."

Yami and Kaiba were not expecting to hear that. Merina demanded, "What the hell does that mean?"

Lumis continued, "The building we're fighting on is 300 meters from the ground. Not only that, there's nothing to break your fall if you do indeed fall. You know what the means: all that's keeping us alive…" he taped the glass with his foot, "…are these windows. Each glass block is equipped with a bomb. The moment the life counter reaches 0, the glass will shatter, making the player plummet to their deaths! That means this is an Explosive Tag Match of Death! Entertaining, is it not?!"

Merina grimaced. "You guys are sick!"

Lumis laughed before seeing that Yami and Kaiba remained stone-faced. "What, no comebacks?"

Kaiba scoffed. "That's all you had to say? Just tell me where Mokuba and Tiki are."

Merina gave Kaiba a look, as if wondering why he was worried about Tiki as well, as Lumis said, "I will! …after the duel."

Umbra pointed out, "If, by some miracle, you guys win, he will be returned to you."

Yami demanded, "And Tiki?"

Umbra stated, "You'll have to take that up with our master."

Kaiba glared. "You Rare Hunters lack the most humanity. No matter: my deck will answer with all my anger!"

The four activated their duel disks and the duel began. Lumis started by setting two cards; Yami followed up with Beta the Magnet Warrior (DEF 1600); Umbra finished with summoning Shining Abyss (DEF 1800). Lumis started to laugh. "As soon as my partner summoned his monster…!"

He played one of his face-down cards Mask of Brutality and equipped it to Shining Abyss, boosting its ATK from 1600 to 2600. Kaiba was shocked. "What the hell…? With just one turn, they were able to play a monster with 2600 ATK!"

Lumis pointed out, "However, there's a drawback: the monster equipped with this card will lose 1000 life points for every standby phase so…"

Umbra chuckled. "Don't worry about that. I have a card to counteract that."

He played the magic card Masked Doll, a card that negated all the negative effects caused by mask cards. Lumis giggled insanely. "That means, no negative effects from Mask of Brutality. Thank you, partner!"

Umbra sneered at Yami and Kaiba. "See what is before you?"

Lumis added, "Our combination play!"

Kaiba was getting annoyed at the two jabbering but Yami seemed to understand. "I see. In their tag duel, they complete each other's teamwork."

Kaiba mentally groaned. 'This is just what I need: Rare Hunters that inspire Yugi.' Verbally, he said, "What nonsense." Peeking at Yami, he explained, "Teamwork does one thing in a fight: hold one back."

Merina called out, "Can you throw us a bone and open your mind for a split second?"

Kaiba growled, "Stay out of this, Hika!" As Merina flipped him off, Kaiba gave Yami a hard look. 'You are nothing more than a tool I need to win. All I really need is my own power to win against these weaklings!'

With that, he set two cards face down and summoned Vorse Raider (ATK 1900). He then smirked. 'I already have a powerful monster in my hand. Next turn, I'll sacrifice Vorse Raider to summon it.'

He could feel Yami's stare and ignored him. He knew he could win on his own, no matter what Yami and Merina thought. Lumis played Mask for the Accursed and equipped it to Beta, thus rendering the Magnet Warrior completely useless. Lumis teased, "Also, the monster's controller will take 500 points of damage at the beginning of every turn."

He set another card face down before ending his turn. Yami started his turn, immediately taking 500 points of damage. Kaiba was glad Lumia targeted Yami instead of him but he still thought, 'Don't die before helping me win, Yugi.' He then studied the situation. 'He can't attack or defend because of Mask of the Accursed…but he can sacrifice and summon a high-level monster. After all, that's what I would do.'

As predicted, Yami started to sacrifice Beta but Lumis activated his permanent trap card Mask of Restrict, prohibiting Yami and Kaiba from sacrificing their monsters. Lumis laughed, "You fell for it! You fell for it!"

Yami and Kaiba cursed their situation as Umbra laughed. "So true. You guys can't summon the God Cards…or any powerful monster for that matter! Too bad! The God Cards…are sealed!"

Kaiba and Yami started to shake with anger. Kaiba hissed, 'Damn them…!'

Yami set another card and played Kuriboh (DEF 200) before looking at Kaiba. "There's only one way we can win!"

Kaiba grew more annoyed. "I know what you're about to say: fight side by side, right?"

Yami said nothing but his face spoke volumes as Merina called out, "Couldn't hurt you to try it!"

Kaiba turned his attention back to the duel. "Such nonsense."

Umbra drew, set a face-down card, and had Shining Abyss attack Vorse Raider. Kaiba smirked. "I won't let you!"

He activated Ring of Destruction and attached it to Shining Abyss; while he knew that he would receive equal damage, it was worth it. But Kaiba's confidence was shattered by Lumis played Curse Transfer. Now Ring of Destruction was on Vorse Raider. Kaiba was almost shaking when he heard Yami call out, "They have a way to stop it!"

Kaiba growled, "Shut up, Yugi! I told you before: I don't need your help!"

Vorse Raider was destroyed but Kaiba quickly activated Ring of Defense, protecting his life points. However, Umbra called out, "You damn fool! Our tag combination is more than measly tricks!"

He activated Spell Transfer, stealing the Ring of Defense and saving his own life points while Kaiba was forced to watch his life points go down to 2100. Lumia laughed. "These are the fusion tactics of Light and Darkness!"

Umbra added, "You can't win against our combination!"

With that, he had Shining Abyss attack Kaiba directly. Kaiba could do nothing but see his life flash before his eyes as the attack got closer and closer. Suddenly he was surrounded by brown. Taking a mental deep breath to stabilize himself, his eyes focused and saw what the brown was: hundreds of Kuriboh. "Yugi…!"

Yami activated Multiply with Kuriboh. "Your attack won't reach Kaiba!"

Umbra could not believe that Yami used Multiply on the weakest Duel Monster. After having a flashback to their duel at Duelist Kingdom, Kaiba thought things through. "I was saved…by your Kuriboh? Mind your own business, Yugi!"

Merina groaned loudly. "It wouldn't kill you to say thank you, you know!"

Kaiba barked, "Stay out of this, Hika!"

Merina barked back, "Yugi saved your life! How about a little gratitude?!"

Yami agreed. "Kaiba, this tag match must be played with teams of two. However, the issue is me and you: if one of us falls, it's all over for the other."

Kaiba was insulted. "Are you saying I can't win with my power alone?! How dare you!"

Yami brushed off Kaiba's temper. "Right now, the Rare Hunters before us have a flawless team strategy. They help each other; that type of teamwork is unmatched by anything else. If we don't combine our powers, we have no chance of defeating them!"

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "Cooperation?"

He scoffed and looked back at his opponents before drawing. Seeing it was Blue Eyes White Dragon, he cursed the Mask of Restrict. 'Forget the God Cards; I can't even draw my Blue Eyes! Damn this…'

He set a face down card and summoned Battle Ox (DEF 1000), making Umbra sneer, "Has your big plan turned into a big failure?"

Kaiba did not answer. Lumis laughed. "Good, good, good, good! Other than that weakling monster guarding you, you two can't do a damn thing! But I have the card that'll get rid of those bastards!"

Lumis played Mask of Dispel and put the mask on Multiply, cancelling its effects and reducing Kuriboh back to one. Lumis then revealed, "By the way, that cards takes out another 500 points of damage, just like Mask of the Accursed!"

Lumis ended with summoning Grand Tiki Elder (ATK 1500) and had it attack and destroy Kuriboh. The small Rare Hunter jumped and laughed with delight. "That little wall monster of yours is gone! Your turn now; say goodbye to 1000 life points!"

With Yami now having 2500 life points thanks to the masks, he drew. Kaiba watched Yami and then looked at his hand. He wanted to summon Blue Eyes but he could not sacrifice to do so. But he got an idea and chuckled. "What's wrong, Yugi? You look like you have some high-level monsters in your hand. Too bad you can't play them. Well, it can't be helped if we hold powerful cards: if we can't sacrifice-summon them, they're nothing more than nuisances. We might as well just put them into the graveyard ourselves."

Lumis laughed. "Look at them: they're like frenemies!"

Umbra agreed. "Not a hint of teamwork!"

Kaiba glared at the opponents. 'Yugi, I hope your brain is working and you get what I'm trying to tell you.'

Yami set a face-down card and ended his turn. Umbra laughed. "Looks like you couldn't play a single monster to defend you!"

He played the ritual card Curse of the Masked Beast, sacrificing Grand Tiki Elder and Shining Abyss to summon The Masked Beast (ATK 3200). "Yugi! You have no wall monster!"

He had Masked Beast attack Yami but Kaiba had Battle Ox run in front of Yami, taking a hit and saving Yami's life points. Umbra was stunned. "What the hell just happened?!"

Kaiba chuckled. "Tag duel rules stated that, if the opposite player is attacked directly, you can protect your tag partner with your own monster…or did you forget that?"

Umbra growled. "You two don't have any teamwork!"

Yami and Merina were happy but Kaiba scoffed. "As I've said many times today, don't misunderstand me. That was just payback for Kuriboh earlier."

Merina face-palmed herself as Lumis laughed. "But now you're both left wide open!"

Umbra added, "Now neither of you can be protected against the Masked Best's attacks!"

Kaiba smirked. 'Oh really?'

Yami played Card Destruction, making all four of them discard their hands. Glad that Yami got the message, Kaiba said, "You need a sacrifice to summon high-level monsters. But there is another way to summon such a creature without sacrificing."

To prove his point to the horrified Rare Hunters, he played Monster Reborn, resurrection-summoning Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000). He enjoyed the look on the Rare Hunters' faces. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Yami looked pleased, making Kaiba almost laugh. "You realize it now, Yugi? To win this tag match, we need just one thing." He looked at Yami. "This must be what they call using your partner to win. In order for me to summon Blue Eyes, you played Card Destruction…all according to my plan." Yami looked shocked, amusing Kaiba. "So don't go thinking I've gained some ridiculous willing to unite with you…but it does help that you're easy to please. My debt is repaid! Aside from the next attack on these idiots, don't even fathom the notion that Blue-Eyes will be helping you out."

Merina groaned in frustration. "This guy…"

Kaiba looked at his opponent. 'The sooner I win, the sooner I'll get Mokuba back and repay Tiki. Once I do that, I will no longer be in their debt.'

Amused by Kaiba's speech, Lumis pointed out, "Take your Battle Phase, Kaiba! While you were miraculously able to summon Blue Eyes, the Masked Beast still has 3200 ATK, making it stronger than your Blue Eyes!"

Kaiba growled; he hated it when his opponent pointed out the obvious. But Yami said, "Attack them, Kaiba! Your Blue Eyes will defeat the Masked Beast! Believe what I say or let your Blue Eyes go to waste!"

Kaiba growled and considered his options. 'If I lose Blue Eyes now, we have no chance of winning.'

Yami challenged, "Show me your courage, Kaiba!"

Hearing that, Kaiba smirked. "Very well! Never thought I've had to listen to what you say but I refuse to back down!"

He had Blue Eyes attack Masked Beast. To the Rare Hunters' and Kaiba's surprise, Masked Beast was destroyed. Kaiba looked out at the field. 'How did I…?'

The Rare Hunters demanded to know what happened, making Yami smirk. "When I used Card Destruction, my hand went to the graveyard…including one Archfiend of Gilfor! When it was sent to the graveyard, it equipped itself onto the Masked Beast, making it lose 500 ATK!"

Kaiba looked at Yami in surprise. 'Yugi allowed me to play Blue Eyes AND managed to defeat the enemy all at once?! His plan with Card Destruction went that far…?'

Yami looked at Kaiba. "Kaiba, that is the power of unity!"

Merina added, "Get it through your head, stupid!"

Ignoring Merina, Kaiba could feel his brain trying to process such a concept. 'Unity…a useless word! That's the same as me taking orders from Yugi…something I refuse to do!'

Lumis took his turn by placing a monster in face-down defense mode and setting two cards. Yami took his turn, automatically lost 1000 life points, and set a card before summoning Alpha the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1400). He had Alpha attack and destroy the face-down monster. When Umbra took his turn, he played Rogue Doll (ATK 1600), making Kaiba scoff. "All you have is that weak monster? It's not even qualified to be Blue Eyes' enemy!"

Umbra ignored the taunt and had Rogue Doll attack Blue Eyes. Kaiba smirked. 'Learn your place."

But Lumis was ready with his face down card Mask of Weakness. Kaiba was sickened to see the mask attach itself to Blue Eyes and make its ATK drop to 2300. Lumis then added Mask of Brutality to Rogue Doll, raising its ATK to 2600. Kaiba was horrified at the idea of his dragon being destroyed but Yami proudly proclaimed, "I won't let that happen!"

He activated Mystical Refpanel, taking the Mask of Brutality off Rogue Doll (returning its ATK to 1600) and putting the mask on Blue Eyes (destroying Mask of Weakness and raising Blue Eyes' ATK to 2300). As Blue Eyes attacked, Kaiba thought about what happened. 'Power…what is it? Up until now, I have lived by one thing and one thing only: power is the only thing I believe in! In a fight, everyone is an enemy and power is the weapon used to crush your enemies. It is something to be used…by yourself and yourself only! The power of unity…can this overcome my beliefs?'

Umbra's life points dropped to 2000, making him panic. Lumis asked if he was all right but Umbra growled, "You told me it was okay to attack him! Look what happened!"

Lumis was insulted. "You saying this is my fault?! You're the one who got careless!"

Umbra yelled, "Shut up! I'm not done yet!"

He set a face-down card. Taking a mental deep breath to calm himself, Kaiba focused on what he knew to be true: 'Power…power…power!' "Blue Eyes! This is my power!"

He had his dragon attack Umbra directly but Umbra saved himself with Mask of Impregnability. Umbra laughed. "Too bad, Kaiba! That attack was so easy to read!"

Merina called out, "Next time, think before you act, Kaiba!"

Kaiba grinned a devil's grin. 'Nice to see some stereotypes are true.' He then commented to Umbra, "Just you were saved, though!" He looked at Lumis, smirking. "I could have easily attacked either of you. I just chose to go after your partner. But, if I had…would that 'partner' of yours have activated that magic card to save YOUR life? If I had to venture a guess…I would say he wouldn't!"

Lumis glared at Umbra, who stated, "What the hell is this?! You know damn well I would have activated that card to protect you! I would have! Believe me!"

As Merina and Yami figured out what Kaiba was doing, Lumis started his turn by playing Pot of Greed. He then placed a card face-down and played Hand Exchange. Turning to Umbra, Lumis demanded, "I hate my current hand; gimme yours!"

Umbra paled. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Lumis went up to Umbra and silently demanded the hand. Growling, Umbra gave the smaller his hand before Lumis said, "I'll also activate my magic card!"

The card he activated was Chosen One, worrying Yami and making Kaiba annoyed. Lumis set three cards in reverse, one of which was a monster card, and then put Chosen One in the middle so it could choose which card would be activated. Umbra smirked. "So that was your plan."

Lumis glared. "I wasn't about to let your hand go to waste."

Umbra growled. "If this fails, I'll rip you apart!"

As Chosen One started to spin, Kaiba started to shake. 'Damn it. If this works…!'

Chosen One slowed and chose the card: the monster card. To Yami and Kaiba's horror and to Lumis' glee, Masked Beast Des Gardius (ATK 3300). The three-headed monster looked at Yami and Kaiba as Umbra grinned. "Well done! Lucky!"

Lumis laughed. "Believe me: we have no chance of losing now!"

Kaiba looked at Blues Eyes out of the corner of his eye. The dragon no longer had Mask of Brutality and Kaiba knew what the meant: 'Des Gardius is stronger than Blue Eyes! No…! What should I do…?!'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yami look at his deck and could almost see the wheels turning in his rival's head. Kaiba started to wonder if Yami had a plan as Lumis teased, "So…who should I attack first? Should I wipe out Yugi in one attack? Or should I eliminate that pesky Blue Eyes? I mean, Yugi, all you have is Alpha the Magnet Warrior on the field. If I took you out, you'd lost 1900 life points; in other words, you'd die!"

Umbra pointed out, "Getting rid of just one of them doesn't guarantee us victory. Forget Yugi: leaving Kaiba and his Blue eyes on the field could be disastrous for us."

Lumis brushed him. "No, I will beat Yugi!"

Deciding to take a chance, Kaiba scoffed. "You truly are a coward. Even with a monster with 3300 ATK, you still back down from a true challenge." Hearing Lumis' slight anger made Kaiba laugh. "Of course, I'd do nothing but thank you for defeating Yugi! But, in the next turn, my Blue Eyes will destroy your monster."

He smirked at Lumis, who growled and made Des Gardius destroy Blue Eyes. Kaiba closed his eyes, not wanting to watch, as his head lowered until his eyes were shadowed. 'Forgive me…' Holding his head up high, Kaiba growled, "Your turn, Yugi!"

Now with 500 life points left, Yami told Kaiba, "The soul of your Blue Eyes will be inherited by this card!" He then turned his attention to the Rare Hunters. "You fell right into our trap!"

Playing along, Kaiba nodded. "My Blue Eyes was bait…in order to play an even stronger monster."

The Rare Hunters refused to believe what they were hearing as Umbra pointed out, "Your ability to sacrifice-summon is sealed!"

Yami held up a card. "That is true: we can't sacrifice any monsters. But behold our alternative!"

He summoned Gamma the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1500). With all three Magnet Warriors on the field, their special ability activated: they broke into several pieces (destroying Mask of the Accursed) and came together to form Valkyrian the Magna Warrior (ATK 3500). Kaiba was impressed but proclaimed, "This is the combined power of our greatest efforts!"

Lumis growled. "What the hell did you say?"

Kaiba focused on Yami. "Attack them! Destroy the damn monster that killed my Blue Eyes! Look, I'll admit: the power of cooperation is great. But my Blue Eyes' anger won't be erased by you simply summoning a monster!"

Yami looked at the Rare Hunters and appeared to be considering his options, infuriating Kaiba. "Why the hell are you hesitating?!"

Merina called out, "It's called using his brain!"

Kaiba ignored her. "I sacrificed my Blue Eyes so you could play your trump card! So hurry up and eliminate the enemy monster with that thing and ease my anger! I order you!"

Yami played a card face down. "Kaiba, if I do that, will that really ease your unbridled emotions?! If so, I'll attack right here and now!"

Kaiba was not expecting Yami to say that. "What did you say?"

Yami calmly said, "Emotions hold a duelist back. If you give into them, you fall right into the enemy's hand."

Kaiba growled. "Shut up! Fights are fueled by anger!"

Yami remained unfazed. "Stay calm, Kaiba! Think about the key to victory!"

Kaiba growled again but he looked at his hand, zeroing in on Obelisk the Tormentor. 'Key to victory…Obelisk is my trump card! But I need to sacrifice three to summon God…and, as long as they have Mask of Restrict, I can't do that.'

He then noticed the card next to Obelisk: Soul Exchange. 'There's a way to summon God!' He looked at Valkyrian and wondered, 'Is Yugi using Valkyrian as bait as well? The key to victory…is for me to accept the power of working together!' Now calm, he again said to Yami, "Attack them."

Yami smirked. "Yes."

He had Valkrian the Magna Warrior attack and destroy Des Gardius. But Lumis laughed. "He's got a special ability too, you know! Des Gardius leaves behind three masks after death…three masks that become the Mask of Remnants!"

The three combined into the new mask and attached itself to Valkyrian, thus giving Lumis control of the Magna Warrior. Umbra smirked. "Well done."

Lumis laughed. "It's all over, Yugi! You no longer have any monster protecting you! Umbra, you should finish off Yugi; I want Kaiba." Umbra nodded as Lumis hissed, "Kaiba, consider it punishment for making a fool out of me before! I won't be satisfied until I defeat him!"

Umbra drew and played Masquerade, giving him control of Valkyrian, and ordered his new monster to attack Yami. Kaiba grew worried as the two masks grinned and said at the same time, "Got ya!"

Yami smirked. "I don't think so."

He activated his facedown card: De-Fusion. Valkyrian was broken down to Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Lumis and Umbra were stunned as Umbra exclaimed, "That's impossible!"

Yami smirked. "Remember this! Your anger is no match against me!"

Kaiba smirked and drew before chuckling darkly. "You've seen it before…but I'll allow you another glimpse of God."

Lumis shook his head. "Hell no! I still have Mask of Restrict! How the hell do you plan on summoning God when you can't sacrifice?!"

Kaiba's smirk grew. "That eyesore restraints us from sacrificing OUR monsters. Therein lies the solution: I'll sacrifice YOUR monsters instead!"

He played Soul Exchange and used it to sacrifice the three Magnet Warriors. Umbra was stunned as Lumis voiced, "Yugi fooled us into taking Valkyrian the Magna Warrior so Kaiba could sacrifice them and summon God?!"

Yami just chuckled. As the Magnet Warriors were sucked up into a tornado, Kaiba could feel Obelisk's power filling him up. "God descends!"

The tornado became covered with lightening before Obelisk started to rise from the ground. Kaiba was now almost drunk on Obelisk's power. "The Almighty God of Destruction resting in my hand! Obelisk the Tormentor!"

Everyone was scared at the sight of Obelisk, making Kaiba laugh with a touch of insanity. "Be gone, weaklings!"

Obelisk first punched Umbra; the punch was so powerful, Umbra collapsed, freaking out Lumis. "You all right?!"

Kaiba smirked with pride at seeing his opponent on the floor. "After Obelisk attacked you, you lost all your life. That means you fools are about to fall into your own trap!"

Kaiba laughed as Umbra's life-counter's bomb went off, destroying the glass underneath him. He tried to run but fell. Yami and Kaiba watched as Kaiba smirked to himself. 'Let's see how you look when you land…'

Unfortunately for Kaiba, Umbra had one last trick up his sleeve: a hidden parachute under his robes. As Lumis called out to his partner (Umbra got stuck on a flagpole), Yami smirked. "Parachute, huh? Can't say I'm surprised: this was never a death match for you two, was it? No matter: you have no hopes of defeating us. Do us a favor and surrender."

As Lumis collapsed to his feet, Kaiba glared at Yami. 'You're going to deny me seeing a death when I've already been cheated?' "I won't accept that! You know that both opposing members must be defeated in a tag match. I will send him to hell!"

Merina rolled her eyes as Yami remained calm. "Hang on, Kaiba. There's no reason to harm him further. If we do that, we lose our humanity as duelists."

Kaiba scoffed. "Don't lecture me on my humanity! My humanity is crushing my enemy!"

Just then, Lumis screamed and clutched his head. Merina jumped in fright as Kaiba grew confused. "What the hell…?"

Lumis hung his head before standing up and speaking in a different voice. "I saw Obelisk! The power of God is truly overpowering!"

Yami growled, "Marik! Stop hiding and face me yourself!"

"Lumis" chuckled. For the first time in a long time, Kaiba felt a touch of fear. "He's changed…!"

Yami nodded. "He's being controlled by another person."

Kaiba took a step back before he could stop himself. "Impossible! Who is doing this?!"

Yami glared at "Lumis." "The leader of the Rare Hunters and the owner of the final God Card, Marik!"

While Kaiba did hear that Marik was the leader of the Rare Hunters, his brain picked up on something more important. "He has the Winged Dragon of Ra?!"

"Lumis" chuckled darkly. "Pleased to meet you, Kaiba."

Kaiba glared at "him." 'Marik…my other sworn enemy in Battle City…'

"Lumis" stated, "Right, thank you for getting rid of these two weak underlings. They were just here to buy time and they did. My plan is proceeding as we speak. But they also gave me a special treat: they allowed me to witness your entire decks at work. Now I know there is no way you two can beat mine….especially with Ra, which holds a terrifying power, one even stronger than both of your cards. In fact, it's the strongest card in existence."

Kaiba was intrigued. 'Ra is even stronger than Obelisk? I must have it!'

"Lumis" continued, "There is one more part of my plan. Yugi, it does relate to our fight that has been lasting for 3,000 years: you must perish to ease the Tomb Keepers' anger and carry out our revenge! In order to do so, I have prepared a couple extra soldiers for my team. Your followers you claim are your friends have already joined my side; they will be my soldiers to be used against you."

Merina and Yami looked shocked. As annoyed as Kaiba was at Yami for believing this, a part of him was concerned as well. 'That stupid bonkotsu can be brainwashed into anything with the slightest nudge.'

"Lumis" then leered. "As for my love…well…Tima truly looks lovely when she's passed out."

Kaiba paled. He did not know who Tima was but he believed that Marik was implying he would violate her. 'That bastard…!'

Yami was pale as well. "Marik, what the hell have you done to them?!"

"Lumis" teased, "I won't do anything you did to Tima. I'm a gentleman. As for your friends…they have become puppets."

Yami grew a little whiter. "You're controlling them like you have your Rare Hunters?!"

"Lumis" chuckled darkly. "Indeed. Your friends are my hands. So…come to where your friends await! Fight Joey at the stage of death! But, most of all, cherish your last memory of your precious Tima…for that was the last time you will ever see her!"

Yami growled, "You bastard!"

Having enough, Kaiba went forward. "What have you done with my little brother…" he picked up "Lumis" by the cloak collar, "…and where is Tiki?! We won this fight! Return them like you promised!"

"Lumis" did not physically react to the threats but "he" did speak. "Promised? Return?"

Kaiba growled and tightened his grip. "You bastard!"

Yami and Merina came up from behind as Yami explained, "This guy is just a doll being controlled by Marik!"

Merina added, "So your threats are pointless!"

Kaiba scoffed but dropped "Lumis." "Lumis" laughed loudly before Lumis passed out. Yami turned to Kaiba. "Kaiba, please! Help Merina and I find Joey and the others!"

Kaiba glared and was about to refuse when Merina pointed out, "Mokuba and Tiki are there! Mokuba is your brother and you owe Tiki!"

Kaiba wanted to demand to know how Merina knew about that but there were more pressing matters. "Of course I'll get Mokuba back and I'll help you get your sister back. But there's something else that needs to be done first…"

He got down on one knee and searched Lumis until he found two locater cards. Seeing that, Merina scoffed. "Nice to see you have your priorities in order."

Kaiba muttered to himself, "At least I have priorities." Merina glared as Kaiba gave one card to Yami. "Take this. We now both have six; thus, we both qualify for the Battle City finals."

Yami glared. "This is not the time or the place to be haggling over the tournament final pieces! I have to find my friends now!"

Kaiba scoffed and turned to leave. "Find your friends…"

He thought for a moment. 'Should I continue to help my rival? Or should I let him deal with his own problems like an adult? Saving Mokuba and returning the favor to Tiki are my priorities now that I am a finalist. But—"

Just then, his helicopter raised into view and a familiar boy appeared in the doorway. "Nii-sama!"

Kaiba's heart soared. "Mokuba!"

The chopper landed on the helicopter landing pad and the three ran up to it. Mokuba got out to meet them and Kaiba asked, "Are you all right?"

Mokuba nodded. "Yep. Tea saved me!"

Yami asked, "Is Tea all right? What about Joey? Tristan? Tiki?"

Mokuba looked a little guilty. "Sorry…I only know where Tea is. There was no one else with us."

Yami and Merina looked worried. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Kaiba said, "Just get in, you two. Your friend saved Mokuba…and a Kaiba always pays his debts."

Yami thanked him and Merina commented, "Maybe you're not as dishonorable as I thought you were."

As they got in, Kaiba growled, "Keep that up, you'll be left behind."

Merina sneered as they sat down and the helicopter took off. Kaiba asked, "Mokuba, can you track them?"

Mokuba worked on the computer for a moment before exclaiming, "Got it! Domino Port!"

_As they traveled, Yami updated the Kaiba brothers about the Rare Hunters and why Marik was targeting him. Kaiba refused to believe everything about the "occult nonsense," even after being reminded about his encounter with Pegasus' Millennium Eye at Duelist Kingdom. However, Kaiba listened when Yami revealed his and Tima's true identity; it reminded him about what Ishizu told him at Domino Museum. He tried to brush it off as Yami continued his explanation, driving home the point that Marik wanted to obtain the three God Cards, kill Yami, and (apparently) have Tima for himself. Mokuba believed every word of it but Kaiba did not, pointing out logical explanations. Eventually, Yami gave up and was silent the rest of the flight. But, when Yami prayed that Joey was all right, Kaiba challenged him to show the brunette the power of working together if Yami truly had to fight Joey. Yami stated that he would and he and Yugi did in the death duel that almost cost them and Joey their lives. As horrified by the duel as he was and as powerless as he was to keep it from going on (Joey's deck was spiked with illegal cards), Kaiba was impressed by what Yami and Yugi showed him. While the ending was explosive, everyone was safe, including Tiki who managed to escape and reunite with everyone, to Kaiba's relief. However, as impressed an as relieved as he was, he had more important things to think about: the Battle City Finals._


	12. Duel of Connections

Chapter 12

Duel of Connections

**Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything that has to do with YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers.**

**Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.**

_When all eight duelists and their friends arrived at the location their duel disks gave them, the blimp where the semi-finals were to be held took off. The first duel was between Bakura (with Yima by his side) and Yami; despite Marik trying to get Yami to forfeit by bringing out Ryou and Rose, the evil spirits took control again, refusing to win that way, and allowed Yami to win. The second duel was between Joey and Odion, posing as Marik. It was a difficult duel but it came to an explosive end when Odion (acting on Marik's orders) played a fake Winged Dragon of Ra and the real Ra struck him and Joey with lightening. Thanks to his friends encouraging him in a dream, Joey managed to stand up and win. But, with Odion unconscious, an evil presence took over Marik. Mai, unfortunately, faced "him" in the third duel. "He" won, leaving behind destruction: Mai was locked in the Shadow Game's punishment, Yami was burned shielding Mai and Joey (who was trying to shield Mai) from the Winged Dragon of Ra's attack, and Tima was thrown into the attack when she tried to attack "Marik," hurting her so badly that Tiki took over. Everyone was worried what would happen in the final semi-final, between Kaiba and the mysterious eighth duelist._

Waiting for his opponent, Kaiba studied "Marik." While he was disturbed by "his" actions, his mind was on something more important. 'The Ra card Marik owns…what secrets lie in its text?'

He was referring to the hieratic text that appeared when Mai tried to play it in her duel against "Marik." Just then, his coat radio activated with Mokuba's voice: Mokuba was currently studying the Winged Dragon of Ra card's pictures (KaibaCorp's satellite took pictures of it). Kaiba asked, "Mokuba, what did you learn?"

Mokuba sighed. "Sorry, Nii-sama. I am using KaibaCorp's computer network but it's going to take a while to analyze the data. Right now, I'm accessing the host computer of Industrial Illusions."

Kaiba nodded. "As soon as you've analyzed it, contact me at once."

Mokuba agreed and cut the connection. Putting his deck in his duel disk, Kaiba looked over his shoulder and smirked at Yami. "Yugi, watch me! This will be a battle for the God Cards and the title of Duel King! I will win this battle to settle my score with you!"

Yami said nothing. Hearing Joey call Kaiba arrogant, Tiki sighed silently. 'I know…I know he is. But I know there's more…there has to be. Why else would I be so in love with him?'

Once she accepted her feelings, she allowed them to secretly grow, not wanting her friends to judge her. Kaiba took his place in the duel ring and waited. 'The unknown duelist…who cares who it is?! I'll crush anyone who stands in my way!' The elevator dinged, making Kaiba smirk. 'About time…'

The elevator doors opened, revealing an Egyptian woman with a veil over her face. Kaiba growled, "You're late! You have some nerve, making me wait! If you didn't want to be here, surrender now and stop wasting my time!"

The woman silently took her place and took off her veil, revealing a face Kaiba knew. "What the hell…?"

Roland looked at her. "State your name please."

She nodded. "Ishizu…Ishtar Ishizu!"

Kaiba was confused. "Why are you…?"

Ishizu stated firmly, "I am here…guided by my own fate."

Kaiba silently groaned. 'Not this crap again.' "Explain in normal words."

Ishizu looked at "Marik." "That man there…is my younger brother. That is, the vessel is my brother; he's being controlled by another personality. In order to save my brother, I will win this duel." She turned her focus to Kaiba and touched her Millennium Necklace. "This Millennium Necklace, Mr. Kaiba, can see into the future. It has shown me that you will lose this battle. No one can escape their fate."

Kaiba scoffed. "The future, you say? You came here to give me more of that occult crap? I am sick and tired of those jokes!" Ishizu said nothing so Kaiba continued, "Tell me, who was it that gave me Obelisk at the museum and asked me to stop the Rare Hunters? This tournament was held for that very purpose. Now you say you will defeat me? You are a bold one…making a better impression than when we first met."

Ishizu stated, "The head of the Rare Hunters was my brother…though that creature over there is not my brother. As leader of the Rare Hunters, no one can forgive him for stealing rare cards. But that crime is minute compared to a more terrifying threat that the soul possessing Marik has."

Kaiba was almost impressed. "So that's why you spoke to me and asked me to hold Battle City as bait for the Rare Hunters."

Ishizu nodded. "I have to keep winning and die an honorable death with the soul possessing my brother."

As annoyed as Kaiba was, he had to respect her dedication to her brother, something he knew very well. "So that drives your resolve but something still bothers me: you use me for your goals and then dare to claim you're going to beat me! I couldn't give a damn about his relationship with you, for I will crush you all the same!" He smirked at Ishizu's silence. "You claim to see the future. Well, I'm sorry, Ishizu but your superstitious occult garbage doesn't work on me! My cards determine my future…and I will use the power of Obelisk, a power YOU gave me, to do so!"

Ishizu remained silent as the duel began. Kaiba started, summoning Vorse Raider (ATK 1900) and setting a card for later. Ishizu almost smiled. "Exactly how I envisioned…"

She played Keldo (DEF 1600) without looking, prompting a discussion with the group about how Ishizu did it. Tiki did not get involved, focusing on Kaiba. 'Seto…please win…I don't want to see you devastated.'

She wished she had Tima to talk to but Tima was still too hurt from Ra's attack to come out. Just then, Ishizu activated the magic card Dragged Down into the Grave, infuriating Kaiba. 'How dare you play a card that exposes both of our hands! She'll make me discard my best cards!'

To his surprise, Ishizu stated, "Discard Polymerization and Kaiser Glider."

Kaiba gritted his teeth. 'How the hell did that woman know my cards without even seeing them? What trick is she trying to pull?' He discarded the two cards and growled, "Show me your cards now!" Ishizu calmly obeyed and, after studying, Kaiba demanded, "Discard Monster Reborn and Revival Magic!"

Ishizu said, "Very well."

She discarded the cards and ended her turn. Kaiba had Vorse Raider attack and destroy Keldo. He smirked and teased, "So tell me: was that in the future you saw? Piece of advice: before you look into the future, look at the enemy in front of you."

Ishizu was unfazed by Kaiba's teases. "You still don't understand. I've seen every aspect of this battle: the cards you play and how you will lose. I know all."

Kaiba scoffed. "It's you who doesn't understand. Did you really think something fake would work on me?"

Tiki sighed. 'Why is he so hardheaded?'

Kaiba looked at his hand. 'I'll use Shrink on Vorse Raider, making it the perfect vessel for the Crush Card Virus…the perfect way to destroy your deck.'

He set Shrink face down and ended his turn. Overhearing Joey comment about Ishizu's powers and Kaiba's Obelisk, Merina looked at Tiki. "You're pretty quiet."

Tiki focused on Kaiba. "Lot on my mind."

Merina looked at how she was looking at Kaiba and figured it out. She murmured, "Yeah, I'll bet…"

Tiki looked at Merina. "What was that?"

Merina said nothing as Kaiba stared at Ishizu. 'Come on…attack me…let your deck become infected with the virus.'

Ishizu summoned Mudora (ATK 1500) and equipped it with Cestus of Dagla, raising its ATK to 2000. She had Mudora attack Vorse Raider, making Kaiba smirked. 'You fell for it!'

He activated Shrink and Crush Card Virus. While his life points went down to 2950, it was worth it because Ishizu had to discard every card that 1500 or more ATK. Kaiba laughed in triumph, ignoring how calm Ishizu seemed. 'Now all you have are weak monsters. But don't think I'm done with you just yet.'

Ishizu played Swords of Revealing Lights, making Kaiba smirk. "So you plan to strengthen your hand and escape your demise for three turns?"

Ishizu remained calm. "I'm not planning to escape. Those swords will act as a countdown to your defeat."

Kaiba was unimpressed. "Excuse me?"

Ishizu closed her eyes. "In these three turns, you will draw the card that will be the instrument of your defeat."

Kaiba almost rolled his eyes. "If you're going to sleep-talk, wait until you're actually asleep…especially since you already have one foot in the grave! You're the one who lost your best cards! Feel free to wait out these three turns and pray you draw worthy cards."

Ishizu quietly set a card face down. Kaiba looked at his hand and smirked at the Virus Cannon. 'Just wait, Ishizu; I'll wipe every single magic card in your deck on my next turn! Ishizu…I'll pluck every feather from your wings and send you hurtling back to the ground!'

Tiki looked away for a moment, not liking the look on Kaiba's face. 'Please…please tell me that's more to Seto than this…please tell me there's a reason for him acting this way…'

Kaiba played Dark Gremlin (ATK 1600) and placed Virus Cannon face down for later. Ishizu drew and ended her turn, making Kaiba smirk. "Bad draw? Come one, I thought you could see the future of my failure. You made it sound different than reality."

Ishizu ignored his teases. "You'll draw the card that will lead to the destruction in two turns."

Kaiba laughed. "I'm not the one putting on a show here so listen up! The card I draw next and every card after is the road that you're walking on that will lead to your loss!"

Kaiba drew and ended his turn. 'No need to waste a turn when I have everything I need to damage her deck.'

Ishizu did the same. "One more turn…"

Kaiba was growing more and more amused. "This is the supposed 'countdown to my loss'? Hard to believe with you playing Swords of Revealing Light and yet not being able to get a single card on the field. Amuse me and struggle a little more. Still, no matter what you draw, all that awaits you is despair!"

As he drew and ended his turn, Tiki sighed and touched her heart. 'Please…I need answers…'

Merina peeked at her and murmured under her breath, "Can you make any more obvious?"

Tiki did not hear her as Ishizu drew. "The countdown has been completed."

Kaiba did not believe her. "Even with giving yourself three more turns to live and unable to play a wall monster…how the hell can you even say that?"

Ishizu said nothing as the Swords of Revealing Light disappeared. Smirking, Kaiba put his fingers on his deck, feeling a familiar heartbeat. 'I feel it…God's pulse!'

He remembered Ishizu explaining the God Cards and giving him Obelisk. 'Handing me Obelisk…was a huge mistake on your part!'

After he drew Obelisk, he had Dark Gremlin attack Ishizu directly, lowering her life points to 2400. Kaiba smirked cruelly. "The future is infinite! The past is a string of footprints! The stuff that happened before my time has nothing to do with me! Ishizu, same goes for the fact that you foolishly gave me a God Card! Now listen here! I am not controlled by the future! The road I walk by myself: that determines my future!"

Tiki closed her eyes. 'Why must you be alone…? Is there no room for me in your future?'

Kaiba added, "I didn't choose God: God chose me!" He continued to smirk. 'I'll push you even further into my trap!'

He activated Virus Cannon, destroying ten of Ishizu's magic cards. As Ishizu did, Kaiba laughed. "Your deck has been completely destroyed! Monster, magic…you've lost almost every basic requirement needed to duel! Yet I suspect you will still stupidly claim that I am destined to lose!"

Ishizu firmly stated, "I won't take back my words. I have seen a vision of this happening."

Kaiba was surprised by Ishizu's attitude. "You're still putting up a bold front?"

Ishizu almost smirked. "You're the one who fell into my trap! The tomb guardians' trap."

Kaiba grew worried and almost immediately saw that his worries were justified: Ishizu played Exchange of the Spirit. By paying 1000 life points, Ishizu exchanged hers and Kaiba's deck and graves. Now she had a deck of powerful monsters and magic cards while Kaiba had only six cards. Kaiba was stunned that he truly did fall for Ishizu's trap. His anger grew as he looked at his six cards. "You lousy bitch…!"

Merina almost laughed as Tiki looked worried. 'Please don't lose…'

Ishizu drew and summoned Kelbek (ATK 1500) and a face down card. Kaiba started to shake. 'No…I won't believe it…you can't tell me…it's my future to lose!'

Just then, Mokuba ran to Tiki's side. "Nii-sama!"

Shaking from his fear, Kaiba looked at Mokuba. "Has the analysis been completed?"

Mokuba shook his head. "No but I was worried about you!"

Before she could stop herself, Tiki said, "We both are!"

Kaiba glared at Ishizu and drew, trying to ignore how much his hands were shaking. But Ishizu made her freeze by saying, "You just drew the Virus Cannon. I'm not just lucky with guesses; this is a future I have already experienced. If you want, you are free to play that card."

Growing angrier by the second, Kaiba growled, "Damn right I am!"

Without thinking, Kaiba played Virus Cannon, activating Ishizu's counter trap Null and Void, forcing Kaiba to throw away Virus Cannon and infuriating him. 'Damn it…she knows my entire deck!'

Mokuba and Tiki worried about Kaiba, especially when Ishizu teased that he would draw Crush Card Virus and added, "I can't have you adding that to your hand."

Kaiba growled but spat out, "Turn end…"

Kaiba looked at Ishizu's side of the field. 'As soon as she gathers three monsters on the field…'

Ishizu summoned Zolga (ATK 1700). Seeing how calm she looked, Kaiba grew worried. 'She really is seeing the future…the future of my failure…'

His eyes grew dull until Yami called out, "Kaiba! I see a future! Us battling one another on the road of battle! Use your cards to explore that future! That is the way of a duelist! The future of you and me battling in Battle City!"

Without thinking, Tiki called out, "You've faced tougher battles than this in your life! If you can do raise from those, you can raise from this! I know you can!"

Kaiba peeked at Tiki. 'How does she know…?' He took a deep breath. "Wait for me, Yugi!"

Mokuba looked at Tiki. "What battles are you talking about?"

Keeping her eyes on Kaiba, Tiki stated, "I don't know any specific ones…but he has to have been through tough times to become the man he is today." She added quietly, "I see it in his eyes…"

Mokuba noticed the look in Tiki's eyes and saw Merina. Putting the pieces together, he gestured to Tiki and mouthed, "Does she have…?"

Merina nodded, almost making Mokuba smile. But his smile faded as Zolga attacked and destroy Dark Gremlin and had Kelbek attack Kaiba directly, lowering his life points to 1350. Kaiba cursed her as she ended her turn after playing a card face down. Kaiba looked at the card. 'It has to be a trap that will destroy the Crush Card Virus. But…damn, it have to step in, even with knowing that! I'll endure this humiliation and pay you back by destroying you with Obelisk!'

He drew and Ishizu played her card (another Null and Void), forcing Kaiba to discard the Crush Card Virus. Kaiba growled, "I knew it…you bitch!"

Mokuba grew worried, tears welling up in his eyes. "Nii-sama…Nii-sama can't lose! I still believe you can win! Tiki and I both do!"

Tiki blushed but nodded. Kaiba looked at them before looking at his hand. 'Soul Exchange…the moment Ishizu summons her third monster, I can use it to let Obelisk descend!'

He played Soul Exchange face down, to wait for the opportune moment. Ishizu set a card face down on the field, making Kaiba mentally growl. 'Doesn't matter what you play…just put out a damn monster!'

Ishizu summoned Agido (ATK 1500), making Kaiba smirk. 'Finally!' But he thought of something: 'What if this is a trap as well? If she already knew about Soul Exchange…' He grew a little scared before he got a hold of himself. 'I'll just have to depend on Obelisk.'

What he did not know was that Ishizu had infected Zolga with Sacrifice's Blast, a bomb that would transfer to Obelisk and explode the second Kaiba ordered an attack. Kaiba activated Soul Exchange, sacrificing Ishizu's monsters to summon Obelisk (ATK 4000). Feeling Obelisk's power, Kaiba laughed with a touch of insanity, not noticing that Ishizu's face down card was gone: Obelisk was now infected with the bomb Ishizu hid in Zolga. Mokuba and Tiki's hearts soared, believing Kaiba would win. Kaiba declared, "On my next turn, Obelisk will shatter your future!"

Ishizu ended her turn. Kaiba smirked. "So, Ishizu…Obelisk will crush you and bring me victory! You don't have a wall monster defending you. While you still can, I'll allow you this chance to surrender."

Ishizu remained as quiet as ever. Kaiba was a little nervous but tried not to show it. "So…are you ready for God's attack?"

Kaiba started to order Obelisk to attack but something unexpected happened: "Marik's" Millennium Rod activated and, looking at the light, something came over Tiki. Looking at Kaiba, she said, "Seth, stop!"

As soon as he heard Tiki, Kaiba paused. He started to be bombarded with visions. He saw the palette from the museum before seeing an Ancient Egyptian priest clutching the Millennium Rod, holding the lifeless body of a woman in front of a stone that had the Blue Eyes White Dragon on it. He almost could not breathe. 'What is…this sadness…in my chest…?'

He woke up from his visions and held his head. Mokuba asked if he was all right but Kaiba could not hear his brother. 'Blue Eyes White Dragon…it was on that palette! Why…? Why did I see that?' He looked at Blue Eyes in his hand. 'What the hell do you want?!'

To his surprise, he heard the dragon cry out to him. 'What are you trying to tell me?!' After a moment, he mentally nodded. 'Okay…I'll believe that vision!'

Ignoring the shocked look on Ishizu's face, he played Silent Doom, reviving Gadget Soldier (DEF 2000). He then, to everyone's surprise, sacrificed Gadget Soldier and Obelisk to summon Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000). "My pride! My soul! I decide the future!"

The dragon roared at Ishizu as Tiki smiled and closed her eyes, feeling her heart leap for joy. "Well done, Seth…"

She then went limp and Merina caught her. "Are you all right?!"

Tiki looked up, a little dazed. "Yeah…yeah, just a little dizzy. What happened?"

Torru looked at Merina. _~You called Kaiba Seth.~_

Tiki blinked. "Did I…? I don't remember."

Merina and Torru found it suspicious but focused on the duel. Kaiba glared at Ishizu. "Tell me, in that vision you saw, did Blue Eyes show up?!" Ishizu said nothing but the look on her face spoke volumes, making Kaiba smirk. "Looks like it didn't. This is my future!

Blue Eyes attacked Ishizu, who seemed accept her defeat, and destroyed the rest of her life points. Mokuba was moved to tears. "I always knew you were the brother I always believed in!"

Tiki looked at Mokuba. "He did very well."

Mokuba nodded and looked at Tiki. "What you said about trials…you don't know how right you are."

Tiki was surprised but smiled softly and nodded. Ishizu nodded out of respect. "Mr. Kaiba, that was truly outstanding. You have proved you are truly a wielder of the God Cards. But why…?"

Assuming she was asking why he sacrificed Obelisk instead of attacking with it, Kaiba stated, "Everyone has something they believe in…even deeper than in gods. All I did was trust that."

Tiki's heart soared. 'Seto…is this why I fell in love with you?'

Ishizu smiled. "I took something important from this duel: the light of hope….one not predicted by the Millennium Necklace. I may have lost but I now know that the future can be changed. The people gathered here have the power to save my brother…including the one he loves."

Tiki smiled, knowing that was directed to Tima. Ishizu added, "People really can change the future."

Kaiba took a deep breath and closed his eyes, thinking about the trials Tiki referred to. "Those who allow themselves to be chained by the future can never see the light."

With that, he left. He, however, paused at Tiki and looked at her. "What you said…"

Tiki blushed and looked away. "I just…said what I thought would help you."

Kaiba stared at her. 'Tiki…you truly are an odd girl…but truly insightful.'

When Tiki peeked up at him, he nodded at her and continued to walk. Tiki's heart soared again, knowing how special it was for Kaiba to do that. As he passed Yami, he stated, "Next time we meet, we'll settle our score."

Yami agreed as the Kaiba brothers left. Torru looked at Tiki. _~He was verbal to the Pharaoh and silent to you…yet you seem the happiest.~_

Tiki giggled and scratched the back of her head. "What he did to Yami was normal…but that nod…"

Merina smirked as everyone left to check on Mai.

* * *

In the analysis room, Mokuba sat down as Kaiba asked, "Has the card been translated yet?"

Mokuba nodded. "I managed to link with Industrial Illusion's central computer: it's deciphering it now."

Kaiba looked at the image of the card and his eyes immediately widened. "What…?"

Mokuba looked at Kaiba. "You okay, Nii-sama?"

Kaiba's shocked look stayed on the card. 'Impossible…! I…can read that! It tells about Ra's special abilities! They're terrifying! And…!'

He remembered "Marik" saying that the words were in hieratic and that the chosen ones could read with their hearts. Remembering what Ishizu said about the Pharaoh's opponent on the palette and the vision he had in his duel with Ishizu, he almost started shaking. 'This can't be…that vision…it can't be a memory!'

Overwhelmed, Kaiba got down on one knee and clutched his head with one hand, scaring Mokuba. "What's wrong, Nii-sama?!"

Kaiba used all his willpower to not shake. 'What is happening to me?!'

Seeing how Kaiba was reacting, Mokuba asked gently, "Nii-sama…?"

After a moment, Kaiba calmed himself and stood up. "I'm all right, Mokuba."

Mokuba turned his chair to look at Kaiba. "Are you sure? You seem pretty shaken."

Kaiba nodded. "I'm sure." He could tell that Mokuba was not going to give it up so he asked, "Can you get us some food? I want to study that card…and I think it'll take a while."

Mokuba nodded and left. Once he was alone, Kaiba looked at the card. "Why can I read this? It wasn't one of the languages I was…"

He shook his head to not think about his past and sat down. 'Why did Tiki have to bring up trials in my past? Now she has me thinking about them.'

He then thought about what she said ("You've faced tougher battles than this in your life! If you can do raise from those, you can raise from this! I know you can!"). He did not want to admit it but he sighed. 'She's right…enough of that.'

He started to work on studying the Winged Dragon of Ra. His work went on for hours, long after lights-out. Mokuba stayed with him but fell asleep; Kaiba gave his brother his white cloak as a blanket. After studying, he learned a few things: 'Ra has three special abilities. The hieratic text is text written by the gods…so why the hell can I read it?' Taking a deep breath, he stared at the picture of the card. 'No matter. For now, I need to make a strategy to beat Ra."

He researched different strategies to try. Countless regular strategies failed so he decided to try a simulation with his unbeatable Virus Combo. The computer revealed that that combo had a 13% chance of success. He typed in a few more lines of code and paused at what he discovered: "One Turn Kill…"

He read what the One Turn Kill was. 'When the conditions are right for Ra, it can crush all enemies and reduce the player's life points to 0 in just one turn.' He pulled up pictures of Obelisk and Slifer. "The three God Cards…the one I hold, Obelisk the Tormentor…Yugi's Slifer the Sky Dragon…and Marik's Winged Dragon of Ra…"

Kaiba stared at the three. 'Each with their own different abilities…the only thing they have in common is they need to summoned with three sacrifices…most trap cards have no effect on them…magic cards are only effective for one turn. But…there's one ability that only Ra has: quickness!'

He typed a few more lines of codes. 'If Ra is in the graveyard…and you have Monster Reborn in your hand…the One Turn Kill is complete!'

He clasped his fingers together and stared intently at the screen. 'An invincible God Card that decides the match…in just one turn…is there even a way to stand up to Ra?"

As his mind went through different possibilities, he heard a small voice next to him. "Nii-sama…why are you still up? Get some sleep; the finals are tomorrow!"

Kaiba's eyes were glued on the screen but he acknowledged his brother. "Yes…I know…"

Mokuba sat up. "Nii-sama…"

Taking back his cloak, Kaiba left and Mokuba followed him. But, when Kaiba walked past his room, Mokuba asked, "Where are we going?"

Kaiba said nothing until he reached the cockpit. "The place of the finals…Alcatraz: the island our stepfather spent a fortune building. It was full of high-tech military equipment."

Mokuba silently nodded. 'When he died…Nii-sama destroyed all the facilities and built the Duel Tower."

Kaiba stated, "Mokuba, I will win on Alcatraz Island! When I earn the title of Duel King, I will have finally obtained a true victory! Only then…only then will I truly be freed from him!"

Kaiba started to remember everything his stepfather Gozaburo put him through. Mokuba looked at his brother. 'Man…what Tiki said must have really affected him…'

Suddenly he chuckled. "If I am right…there IS a way to overcome Ra! Wait for Alcatraz…and allow me to grasp the future!

His eyes became fixed on the horizon, waiting for Alcatraz to come. But, when morning came, they hit an unexpected delay…


End file.
